All We Know
by ALiberatedHeart
Summary: Growing up as a foster child is hard. Growing up as a foster child in Queens is harder. Santana and Rachel are hardened teens from the wrong side of the tracks, and less than thrilled to be shipped off to Lima, Ohio of all places. That is, until they meet their two blonde neighbors. From rags to riches, can these girls over come their ugly past? Brittana & Faberry. M for language
1. To Lima With Love

Santana and Rachel were used to being on their own. It was all they'd ever known. Well, not completely on their own, they had each other, but other than that, solitude was a good word to describe their dispositions. When you're used to abuse and empty promises, you can understand the emotions Santana and Rachel would be feeling right about now.

"All you girls have to do is sign right here." Mrs. Grace, the girls' social worker pointed to two identical lines on a paper filled with routine, meaningless words. There were two signatures above those blank lines, one was hard to make out, the other read _Dan Porter. _So that was their newest "daddy" it seemed.

"Yeah, we know the drill, Claire." Santana snapped rudely and scribbled her name on the line of her choice.

"It's actually kind of degrading that you feel like you need to explain this bullshit routine to us. It's not like we haven't played this game before." Rachel rolled her eyes and sliced an X on her line, throwing the pen down after her.

"It's called protocol girls." Mrs. Grace sighed. She was a tired looking woman. Her hair was black with traces of tinsel, green eyes with slight bags underneath, and an overall thin disposition. The first three times they'd sat down for something like this the girls had been respectful, even calling her by her last name, but now it was first name basis, and smart ass attitudes to boot.

"They're actually pretty nice people. Now that you guys are out of Queens, you get the chance to have an actual family. Damn sweet deal if you ask me." Claire smirked at the two teenagers who just snorted in contempt.

"Yeah, ok. We're so fucking far out of Queens we might as well be in Oz. What the hell is this place called anyway?" Santana ran a tanned hand through long, raven hair, narrowed dark eyes, and tilted plump lips down in question.

"Lima, Ohio. For the millionth time San!" Rachel was exasperated. She knew Santana wanted a rise out of somebody, and playing dumb was always a delicate nerve for Rachel.

"Ok well then, let's get out of this shitty little office, throw our shit in the trunk, and get to whatever shithole we'll be living in for the next few months." Santana scooted her office chair back abruptly, and stalked out the open door. The office was actually pretty small. The grey walls didn't hold any pictures; Claire's desk was practically blank, save the computer and the girls' files.

"I'm with San on this one Claire." Rachel stood from her chair too, brushing off Claire's weak attempts at asking her to sit back down. "We'll be ready in ten, see you at the car." Rachel whisked out of the office, shutting the door behind her, leaving a defeated Mrs. Grace to grab her keys and make her way out of the CPS building.

"I can't fucking believe we have to do this charade, Rach! We're 16 years old. Not exactly children after the shit storm we've had to deal with!" An angry Latina huffed as she threw her clothes into a suitcase that looked like it had miles on it.

"Yeah, I know San, but this is a whole new place. There's no gangs and shit, and I doubt there's gonna be assholes here like back in Queens. Maybe we could reinvent a little." Rachel shrugged as she packed her clothes in a calmer manner. She always had been the more rational of the two.

"I don't give a shit what it's like. You know these foster parents are going to get sick of us, and we'll be back here by the end of the month." Santana slammed her suitcase shut.

"Yeah maybe, or maybe they could be cool. Office gossip says our new rents are filthy rich. You have any idea the shit we could lift without them noticing? If things don't work out we can steal a bunch of shit and bail. Simple." Rachel smiled and walked over to the Latina, who had her arms crossed and seemed to be thinking it over.

"Fine," Santana sighed in surrender. "But that doesn't mean I'm playing nice." Rachel just grinned at her self-appointed sister, grabbed her suitcase, and followed Santana out the door of their little dorm.

The girls walked out of the CPS building and on to Main St. in Lima, Ohio. It was hot as hell out, and most of the residents were enjoying the air conditioning that shops in summer provided. From what they could see there was an ice cream shop, a few restaurants, a small park at the end of the block, and a big white church right next to the CPS complex.

"Ok guys, you know the drill." Claire humored them as she waved them over.

"That's more like it." Rachel commented, and Santana let a smirk play on her lips as they put their suitcases in the trunk, and climbed into the beat up, red Mazda.

"This ride is such a piece of shit Claire, when are you going to ditch these wheels?" It was tradition by now for Santana to make fun of Claire's car in that raspy voice of hers.

"I'm pretty sure it's considered a hate crime to insult someone's vehicle in Ohio, Sis." Claire made her own wise crack at the Latina.

"Well if that's considered a hate crime, this joint is just going to love us, huh Rach?" Santana grinned at her best friend, who grinned right back.

"How long till we're at the new place Claire?" Rachel changed the subject, starting to twist her long, chocolate colored hair around her small fingers. It was a nervous habit. Ever since they were little, Rachel would start to play with her hair right before shit hit the fan, or before they were dropped at a new place.

"A few minutes, Rach. Don't worry so much, I already told you guys they're pretty cool people." Claire tried to reassure. "Oh, and Santana?" She added for good measure. "At least play nice for the first week. Not everybody can handle your twisted sense of humor." Claire huffed as Santana smirked at her in the rear view mirror.

"You know I never make promises I can't keep." Is all the dark hair girl said before looking off out the window at the passing scenery. Some boys that looked about her age out in from of a movie theater, a mom and her two kids playing with a dog in a yard. As the drive went on the houses started to get bigger, the yards greener, and the sidewalks didn't have one crack in them. Before the girls knew it they were pulling into the driveway of one of the nicest houses they'd seen so far.

"Remember your manners, and watch your language." Claire reminded the girls as she put her piece of junk in park, and hopped out, the girls following soon after.

The house was massive from the outside. Painted entirely white and looked like it was three stories, plus a basement. The front yard was luscious and green; the place looked pretty inviting actually, not that the girls would admit that to anyone. Just as Claire was about to knock, the door opened revealing a red headed woman that looked about forty or so.

"Hi!" She exclaimed. The woman was obviously excited. "It's good to see you again , Dan's in the backyard, we'll have to get him in a second!" She turned from Mrs. Grace to the girls that still hadn't moved from their sides of the car.

Santana cleared her throat, "Hey." Was all that came out. It didn't sound insulting, but it didn't exactly sound welcoming either. The woman frowned slightly, and was about to reply when Rachel found her voice.

"Yeah, hi. I'm Rachel, this is Santana. It's nice to finally meet you." Rachel put on her rehearsed smile, and glanced at Santana, glad to see her doing the same.

"That it is!" The red haired lady clapped, all traces of the frown gone. "Well don't just stand there, grab your bags and come on in! It's boiling out here." The girls shared a look as they grabbed their bags out of the trunk, and stayed close together as they made their way over to the front door.

"I'll be out of here soon; I just want to make sure the girls get settled in alright." Claire smiled as the front door closed behind them. As soon as the girls actually looked around, it was like Bowser peed on an open flame.

"Holy shit!" They exclaimed in unison, as they took in the mansion before their eyes. They were standing in a living room, light grey carpet and huge forest green couches assaulted their vision, a giant TV hung off one of the light blue walls, and a giant window occupied another.

From there you could see into the open kitchen which was massive, comprised of stainless steel appliances and marble counter tops. Rachel and Santana turned to each other. These two rooms alone were bigger than any of the houses the girls had ever set foot in, and that was kind of intimidating. But there wasn't time to show that kind of thing. Intimidation meant weakness, and these girls were anything but.

"Language!" Claire blushed at their bluntness, and shooed the girls into the kitchen with red head hot on their tales.

"Right, well I'm Valarie, and it's so great to meet you guys!" Valarie hugged Rachel before she got a chance to object. She went to pull Santana in, but the girl was too quick, opting for shoving her hand out instead.

"I don't do hugs. Sorry Val." Santana smirked as the woman's bubbly demeanor faltered.

"Don't mind her. It's just a big change from a place like Queens to Lima." Claire rushed to cover up Santana's rude actions, shooting the dark haired girl a warning glare.

"I'm sure it is, Mrs. Grace." Everybody's heads whipped towards the sliding glass door the girls had failed to notice. Striding towards them was a man, about the same age as Valarie, with light brown hair and freckles. He was lean, and his grey eyes swirled as he took in the sight before him. He smiled, white teeth made whiter by tan skin.

"Mr. Porter! It's great to see you again." Claire shook the man's hand before gesturing to the girls' one after the other. "This is Santana, and this is Rachel." The respective girls just nodded at Mr. Porter in turn. They'd never had good experiences with men. With mother's either, but especially with men.

"Please, call me Dan. I take it you've met my wife, Valarie. Why don't we show you guys your rooms, huh?" Dan swept his hand toward the upstairs.

"That's cool." Rachel shrugged a shoulder, and Santana held in a smile at her sister's bluntness. They were done with the pleasantries. In all honesty these people looked harmless, but the girls had learned the hard way a long time ago, you never assume the best in people.

They upstairs was no less impressive then the main floor, except for the fact that every room on the second floor was filled with pointless shit, or they were bathrooms. Every door the girls opened was filled with furniture or boxes that looked like they were full of various things.

"This is basically the 'Storage Floor'." Dan said as they continued down the hall, "You guys are third floor, best view in this place. I think you'll like it."

Dan pushed open a door at the top of the last set of stairs, and they girls almost lost their shit again. This room was fucking classy. It was huge and open; the whole third level was one room. A king sized bed sat on each side of the room, and two glass doors opened out on to a large balcony, overlooking what must have been the back yard. Sunlight streamed through the open glass doors, and gave the room a cozy feel. A few boxes were stacked in the center of the room, the floor was dark wood.

"Sweet Jesus, you guys are living better than I am." Claire murmured, as awestruck as the two teens by what they had just been told was their room.

"This was has a small kitchen, so you guys can cook and stuff, Mrs. Grace told us you're vegan Rachel, so we figured since teens like space and independence, and all that noise, we could give you guys that stuff." Valarie pointed to everybody's right, and sure enough the wall right by the door had a stove, microwave, some cabinets, and even a medium sized fridge.

"This is insane." Rachel muttered, still taking in the things around her. They girls were just starting to notice how out of place their brawler accents seemed to sound. But oh well, sixteen years of it, no need to try and cover up slang now.

"Uhm, right." Mrs. Grace cleared her throat, breaking the girls out of their trances, and gaining the attention on Dan and Valarie. "If you guys would follow me down to the kitchen, I just have a few more forms I need you to sign. Just insurance forms, that sort of thing."

"Of course!" Valarie clapped her hands, god that was starting to irritate Rachel. "Why don't you girls get settled in, and we'll call you down for dinner in a few hours? I hope it's ok with you two, we invited a family that Dan and I have known for years. We just figured it'd be better to meet them too, seeing as they'll be around a lot."

"Sounds doable." Santana shrugged, earning a curious glance from the Porters, an eye roll from Rachel, and a tiny smile from Mrs. Grace. Dan and Valarie let it roll off their shoulders and started walking down the stairs to give the three women some privacy for a goodbye.

"You better behave yourselves guys. This could be a really good thing for you two." Claire crossed her arms, Santana and Rachel doing the same. It was kind of their thing by now.

"I'll try, and I'll make sure she's on her best ok mom?" Rachel joked sarcastically, but Claire had grown quite attached to these girls over the last ten years, she felt pride that these two were so strong even after all they'd been through. Very few people could walk through hell with a smile, but these two had been strutting since they were picked up by CPS a decade ago.

"That's all I ask ladies, that's all I ever ask." Claire smiled, they just looked at each other for a few seconds, daring someone to make the first move. Finally Claire, as always, stepped forward first and pulled the two in for a hug. Santana half-heartedly shoved her away, but eventually it was a solid embrace.

"Until next time," Santana grinned as they all pulled away. That was the running joke. After the fifth foster home, she'd just started calling it out like it was.

"I sure hope not fire cracker. I sure hope not." Claire kissed Rachel on the head, who gave her a small smile in return, and shared a look with Santana that said it all. Just before Claire shut the door behind her, she heard what she'd been waiting for, and it put a smile on her face.

"We'll miss you, you crazy bitch." Santana said softly. She'd taken to insulting people she cared about, and destroying people she didn't. That's how they did it where she was from. Back when her mom was on crack, she used to put Santana to sleep with insults.

"This is weird Rach, I got a bad feeling." Santana started to pace around the room. It really was beautiful, full of natural light and space, things that were totally foreign in a place like New York, especially Queens.

"I don't. This place is nice. There's room to breathe San, doesn't that make you the least bit optimistic?" The small girl asked.

"We'll see Hobbit. Right now we should probably just focus on surviving dinner. Little Red down there looks like Pippy Longstocking gave birth to the poster child for Wendy's, and Danny boy looks like he belongs on a shit somewhere, making sails and shit." Santana stepped out on to the balcony, enjoying the beautiful view of the neighborhood. According to her cell, it was almost three on a Saturday, yet everything was so damn quiet. It was peaceful and really unnerving at the same time.

"Making sails and shit'? Who are you?" Rachel laughed at her sister, and joined her on the balcony. "Still not feeling it?" She prodded. She got no response, so witty insult. "Santana?" Nothing. Rachel turned away from the view to send a sidelong glance at her sister, only to find her staring down and over into somebody's yard.

"What are you looking at dow— Rachel was cut short when she switched her gaze to where the Latina was looking. To their left, across a tall stone fence that lined the Porter property was a new sight indeed.

Two blondes were laughing and pushing each other around in the grass. A huge pool behind them. Similar, they realized, to the one in the Porter's backyard. The tallest one picked up a remote out of the grass and clicked a button at something the foster kids couldn't see, suddenly there was music drifting up towards them. They two girls stopped pushing each other and started dancing around. Rachel didn't recognize the song, but she could tell by Santana's smirk that the Latina did. Little shrieks of laughter came out of the two girls as they jumped, and spun, and twirled, laughing the whole time. From what Santana and Rachel could tell, they were both pretty damn good.

"We need to stop leering Rach." Santana laughed and Rachel shook herself out of her daze, making Santana laugh harder as they walked back into the room.

"They sure don't make em' like that in Queens." Rachel commented, and Santana grinned in agreement. "Alright Satan, you get the left side, I get the right. This is fucking awesome sis!" Rachel declared her side of the deal before flinging herself across the room, and onto the spacious grey and white duvet.

"Whatever you say Rach." Santana grinned as she chucked her suitcase onto her bed, and looked the room over once more. The ceiling was vaulted, oak beams running up the light blueish grey walls periodically. The floor was dark rosewood, or some shit like that, Santana guessed, and was polished to a dull shine. She walked over to the light switch by the door, and found that it was a dimmer. Sweet mother of god, this fucking place had it all. She checked out the "kitchen" cabinets next. Sure enough they were stocked with plates and silverware. Not the cheap paper and plastic shit either, this was legit. She traced along the wall, coming to another door, a bathroom. Her own by the looks of it, and the fact that Rachel was already looking through another one on the other side of the room. Damn, these people really were loaded. Glass and tile shower, tile floor, big ass mirror, shelf space, and a nice looking marble sink. It actually was all pretty over whelming. Santana walked back out into the room, and sat down on the edge of her new bed. The comforter was a rich purple, one of her favorite colors, as irony would have it. She ran her hands through her hair, and laid back. The mattress was too soft. Too comfortable. She wouldn't sleep well for however long they were here before the Porter's got sick of their attitudes, hers especially. Being honest with herself, she and Rachel didn't fit in a place like this. Things were shiny and rich and clean, they were from the ghetto. People got shot, your best friends and their mother did drugs, everybody's dad was either in prison, dead, or an alcoholic. That's what they were from, that's the kind of people they could be real around.

Rachel came out of her bathroom and found Santana lying on her bed, not moving. "You know, you should try to enjoy this. This town does have a hood San, we can hang out there whenever. Build a badass rep for ourselves." Rachel sat on the bed next to her sister, and watched as Santana slowly sat up.

"Is that what that place was past the CPS building? I knew that neighborhood looked sketchy! Thank god, I mean come on Hobbit, we don't exactly fit in a place like this. I'd go fucking crazy without something." Santana rubbed her eyes; it had been a long few weeks, that's for sure.

"We got this San. Us against the world remember. If we can handle Robby, we can handle this place easily." Rachel pushed her chin up in a proud gesture, and Santana couldn't help but hold herself a little straighter at the mention of one of their worst foster parents.

"Yeah Rach, we got th—

A doorbell sounded throughout the house. Santana and Rachel both looked at their phones, it was 6:15, all they'd really done was bask in their room for a few hours. How time flies when you wish it would just stop.

"Damn, that's gotta be the friends or whoever the fuck they are." Rachel jumped off the bed and pulled the reluctant Latina up with her. "How do I look?" Rachel started twirling her hair.

"Calm down Rach! Jesus, you look killer." Santana grabbed the girl's hands and brought them back to her sides, and Rachel took a deep breath. "We got this kid. We're family." Santana straightened her own shirt, and the girls' gave each other the once over. Santana in white low top converse, dark short shorts, and a faded red Sex Pistols shirt. Rachel in grey vans, light short shorts with ripped pockets, and a light green tee that read, _Time's Up. _They were hot and they knew it, with hair falling naturally, they had nothing to worry about other than looking like they were from a rough past. You couldn't really hide that though. The girls started down the stairs, the trek through across the second floor they held hands, and just before they reached the kitchen, they released each other, and stood proud.

"Ahh! Santana, Rachel, there you are." Valarie waved us over, she was standing next to Dan and two blonde adults that had just turned to face the newest additions to these weekly gatherings. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, they're close friends!" Valarie was smiling wide, and it made Santana almost want to smack the woman, too much god damn cheer all the time.

"Call me Will." The man extended his hand to each of the girls. He was tall and handsome, close cropped blonde hair with hazel eyes and broad shoulders.

"And you can call me Susan." The woman flashed a grin, the girls' shaking hands again in turn. She was a classic beauty. Long gold locks, deep blue eyes, and a perfect smile. Rachel hated people like that. They reminded her of her second foster mother who was less than stellar to put in nicely.

"There they are!" Will exclaimed after a moment of awkward silence in which Santana and Rachel were trying to get a read on these Piece people. Everybody turned their heads at the man's exclamation.

Dark brown eyes met dark blue one. Hazel eyes locked on to chocolate orbs. The blondes in the doorway stopped, and the brunettes inhaled silently. Time seemed to stop, and the damaged girls' could have sworn their hearts beat loud enough to hear.

"Santana, Rachel, these are our daughters," Susan broke the silence, shattering the spell. "This is Quinn," She gestured towards the shorter, hazel eyed blonde who smiled politely, a smile neither girl returned. "And this is Brittany." Susan moved to the taller blonde who flashed a smile like her sister had. Just like Quinn's the brunette's didn't smile back.

Santana snapped out of it and cleared her throat. "Uhm.. I'm Santana, this is Rachel. It's, um, it's nice to meet you." Rachel nodded along with what her sister said, and the blondes nodded back, both had little smiles on their lips.

"Well!" Dan clapped just as the silence started to drag into awkward territory. "Let's get this dinner started, shall we. Saturday night BBQ! Let's make everybody feel welcome." The Porter's and Pierce parents disappeared out the sliding glass door into the luscious backyard.

Rachel looked back at Quinn and Brittany, noticing they were searching the cupboards for plates, she smirked at Santana, pointing out how obvious Dan had been. "Let's make everybody feel welcome!" What a joke. Santana just smirked back and ruffled her sister's hair. They started towards the back door, and out into the yard for what they knew would be an interesting night, a different blonde on each of their minds.

Brittany and Quinn however, had in fact, seen their little exchange, and shared a knowing look with each other. Tonight would be very interesting indeed.

**Just trying my hand at Brittana. I didn't really edit this or plan it out, just sat down and typed. If you like it I guess you know the drill. Follow, review, all that noise. If this gets picked up, I promise I'll fine tune upcoming chapters, add more. But yeah, PM any questions or comments. :)**


	2. Plural Pierce

Rachel POV

I've felt a lot of things in my life. Surprise, anger, frustration, heartache, longing, despair, and even the occasional flash of happiness. But this was a whole new feeling. I guess if I had to label it, I'd call it community. Dan and Valarie were lounging around the barbeque, which was strategically placed by the pool. The Pierce's were grabbing drinks for all the adults out of the cooler, and the two blonde girls were nowhere in sight.

Dan waved us over, and I sighed and dragged a reluctant Santana with me.

"Hey girls! We just wanted to know how you were settling in." Dan patted me on the shoulder, and it took every ounce of self-control I had not to wince.

"I know I'm jealous, that room you guys have is beautiful!" Susan Pierce grinned at us, and blue eyes sliced over us.

"It's great thanks." I offered a small smile. I knew it was up to me. Santana didn't really do people. Unless, they were her people.

"Dinner's going to be ready in about a half hour, I just wanted to get you girls comfortable tonight, and then tomorrow we can talk about school in the fall and, you know, get to know each other. Does that sound doable?" Valarie winked at Santana who I watched swallow her disgust.

"Yeah, consider is set in stone Mrs. Porter." Everybody could tell me tone was clipped. The weird thing was that it wasn't even intentional, it just came out that way.

"Well, just enjoy the night ladies, we'll do the heavy lifting tomorrow, like I said." Dan smiled, and turned back to his grill master, light brown hair blowing in the evening breeze.

"And please, call me Valarie, Val, Aunt Valaire, pick your poison, but none of that 'Mrs. Porter' crap." Valarie smiled at us, and went back to laying out plates on a fold out table. That hadn't been there when we got here, Dan must have hauled it out in preparation for this party thing. Which meant a sit down meal. Fuck. I started to twirl my hair, and Santana just smirked at me.

"Let's go hobbit, all this shit is starting to smother me." Santana whispered inn my ear, and tugged me off toward the other end of the yard. I needed to relax, and I didn't see a punching bag to let off my frustrations, so I went with the next best thing.

"Hey San, want to take the edge off?" I asked her wryly. Will Pierce had a beer in his hand, which meant that cooler they had stepped away from had alcohol in it.

"What'd you have in mind Rach?" Santana eyed me warily. A small grin was growing on her lips; I knew she was ready to raise hell, probably thinking I meant something much worse than sneaking a few beers.

"Let's grab a couple beers and ditch. The blondes aren't here so it can't be that bad if we get a few minutes to ourselves," I nodded towards the adults. "We can bail for a bit, and then be back before they thank their jesus." I smirked at her, and San gave me a small grin in return.

"I don't see anything wrong with exploring the property. We can find some good places to hide if these fuckers turn out to be bat shit crazy." I smiled at her and sent another look towards the oblivious adults, wondering why my life couldn't have just been simple.

The old friends were talking by the pool. Dan and Valarie were cool so far. I mean, they'd introduced us, and now they were leaving us the hell alone. What more could a girl ask for? Striding over to the cooler, San and I grabbed two beers each, and went back inside through the kitchen door.

"The front yard seems like a good place to lie around. Not too close, not too far kind of thing." San pointed out and I just nodded in agreement. This new place wasn't really like any place we'd ever been.

We stepped out into the driveway that was now shaded due to the sun's position. San and I walked down towards the street, two stone pillars marking the separation between the yard and the cement. I plopped down on the curb, and leaned my back against the stone slab. It was warm, but not hot against my back. San did the same next to me. We snapped off the tabs on our first beers, and took a long swig.

"Did you ever think we'd end up here?" I asked after a moment of silence. This place was just too damn quiet.

"Not in a million years hobbit. I mean, look at this neighborhood. Everything's fucking clean and whole and... the same. I mean, yeah Queens was just one big ghetto, but this place looks like a kingdom or some shit." She chuckled and I snorted. She was right, this wasn't even close to what we were used to.

"You think we should go in soonish, it's getting dark out." I commented out of habit.

"Why would we kid? No gangs in this place. If anything it's the KKK up in here." Santana laughed again, her angry laugh. The one that makes me frustrated most of the time.

"Amen to that. Come on sis, Lima fucking Ohio? What is this place?" I sighed. We were a long damn way from home. I knew she felt it too, that sense of just being alone. At least back home we had friends in the hood, but there was no one here to save us now.

"I think this is what the kids back home would call Nirvana or something, Rach. To me it just feels like fucking middle earth." She tilted her head back and closed her eyes; it really did feel like a glitch in time. Then I heard it.

A shoe scuffed on the pavement, and my eyes shot open. "You know, it's not actually that bad here." A melodic voice, laced with amusement, interrupted our utopia. Santana's head snapped in its direction at the same time mine did. We scrambled to our feet in seconds.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" A different voice laughed. It was the Pierce daughters.

"You know it's rude to eavesdrop?" Santana snapped as she looked the girls up and down. They were maybe 10 feet away, standing in the middle of a big empty street. A light breeze was blowing, and the houses around were silent; this place was getting weird as fuck.

"And it's not really any of your business anyway." I shrugged, and went back to my beer. Being on alert your whole life makes you jumpy like that I guess.

"Relax, we just wanted to say hi, but you guys looked like you were talking about something serious, so we left it for a second. It's not like we're creeping or something." The tall blonde, Brittany, shrugged.

"We've already met." Santana stated rudely, and folded her arms across her chest. A defense mechanism. She felt uncomfortable. Well that makes fucking two of us. "Rude much?" The blonde closer to me asked. Quinn. She was pretty. They both were, but Quinn was most definitely pretty.

"Well, you did interrupt us. I hear in some places that a rude thing to do," I retorted before Santana could snap again.

"That may be wherever you're from, but here it's called hospitality." Quinn grinned at me. Something in my stomach moved, it felt like a tug or a pinch or something, damn I really was anxious about this place.

"And what would you know about where we're from?" Santana tightened her hold on herself, giving the blondes' her infamous smirk. Oh fuck.

"You can calm down brawler, we just wanted to say hi. You'll find it pretty nice to have some friends in a town like this." The tall blonde crossed her arms now too. Hah! This chick was trying to act tough. Who the hell does she think she is?

"Don't need friends," Santana retorted. "Do we Rach?" She cocked her head to the side.

"We won't be here long enough." I gave her the answer she wanted to hear. These girls just couldn't take a hint.

"I wouldn't count your chickens quite yet," Quinn chuckled and Brittany shook her head in amusement.

"Care to elaborate Goldie Locks?" Santana huffed in annoyance.

"Not to you." Quinn retorted with a sarcastic smile. It's not like we hadn't provoked this girl, but she was crossing a new line. No way in hell had someone as small town as her, met anything as big city as us. If she had, she wouldn't be talking this way right now.

"Is that so? Well then let me tell you how it's gonna be, beca-

"Anyway," I cut Santana off, and forged ahead, despite her death glare. "You guys wanted to hang out?" I prompted. I didn't really have that much of an interest in spending time with a couple of preppy teenage girls, but I honestly didn't see how much more shocking this day could get, so might as well get my kicks in.

"Go back to the fucking shire!" Santana yelled at me, right after the question left my mouth.

"Suck it up bitch. Who knows, they could be cool." I shrugged, and saw a small smile on Quinn's lips. Brittany was looking between Santana and I with an amused grin. Santana just snorted in contempt but didn't argue.

Brittany's POV

The breeze picked up as we all plopped down on the curb out in front of Dan and Val's. Santana's scent blew into my nose. She smelled like stale cigarettes, cherry, and something sweet that I couldn't quite place. It was almost intoxicating. These girls were strange. They insulted the shit out of each other, and us even, yet it seemed familiar. I liked their accents too. It sounded like they were from a ghetto oor something. So instead of guessing, I just asked.

"So where are you from then?" I turned to face the Latina. She was so pretty. A little bitch of a bitch I guess, but so was Quinn. I thought for a second she wasn't going to answer me, but after a second she turned her head in my direction.

"Queens. Southside." She raised her eyebrows at me, challenging me to pry. I was going to take the bait to, but Quinn stepped in.

"Damn. That place is a slum." We all grimaced at how it came out. Jesus Quinn, that sounded rude even for you. "I didn't mean it like that! Just like, from what I've heard… yeah." She held her hands up in surrender. Santana smirked, leaned her head back, and took a large swig of beer.

"Don't worry about it. Everybody says stupid shit." Rachel shrugged. I liked Rachel, she was blunt, a little nicer that Santana seemed, and she looked like a cool girl. According to Quinn she was really pretty, and I guess I saw it, but I mean, compared to this Santana girl, not really. They were both really fit from what I could tell, but Santana was exotic, I'd always liked girls that were my polar opposite.

"Yeah," Quinn was grinning at Rachel who just took another swig of beer. I didn't drink unless it was for social purposes, like parties and weddings, and other noise like that, I just didn't really like the taste of alcohol. "So, you guys like the 3rd floor? Britts and I used to sleep up there all the time when we were younger. Our families practically live together." Quinn and I shared a smile. Good times, back in the day.

"Good story, don't tell it again." Santana rolled her eyes. I held back a frown, I don't really see the problem, Quinn was just trying to be nice. Turns out Rachel felt a little like I did. Before anybody could say anything else, Rachel reached around Quinn and smacked Santana in the back of head, hard. "Fucking hell Rachel! That fucking stings!" she tried to slap Rachel back, but the smaller girl dodged out of reach.

"Why don't you place nice for ten minutes. We're in this place for at least a few more weeks, try and make it enjoyable why don't you Satan?" Rachel just laughed as Santana flipped her the bird. I snickered. They were like real sisters. I wonder what had made them so close. I guess these next few weeks were a good time to find out.

Nobody's POV

The rest of the party went pretty smoothly. Nobody had noticed the missing beers, and as everyone sat down to eat and say Grace, Santana and Rachel just looked at each other throughout, sharing small glances. The Pierce's volunteered their daughters to show the brunettes around Lima in the following days, and against Santana's will, they didn't have a choice but to agree.

The food was actually pretty decent too. They had grilled chicken, green beans, watermelon, and iced tea. Santana and Rachel were both too embarrassed to admit they'd never actually had a tasteful home cooked meal, not that they contributed much to the light conversation anyway. When the meal was over, they were waved off as they tried to collect the dirty dishes.

"No no no, you girls don't worry about that. Dan and I can handle it later." Valarie tried shooing the girls away from the table.

"You sure? I mean, y'all cooked. It's not a problem." Santana reasoned as her and Rachel shared a confused glance. They were used to picking up the various shit of various foster parents.

"Why don't you four go upstairs? You can show Britty and Quinn your room." Dan interjected before Santana could protest again.

"Yay!" Brittany beamed from where she and Quinn were joking around a few feet away. "It'll be cool to see what you did up there." She bounded over, dragging an amused Quinn over.

Rachel looked them up and down for a second, Santana just crossed her arms, and glared, leaving this one up to Rachel. Said brunette looked back at the adults, who just nodded again, and finally shrugged her consent.

"Sweet! Come on Quinn! Race you!" Brittany took off towards the door, all three girls hot on her tail. Quinn because she was secretly just as eager, Santana and Rachel because they didn't want anybody snooping through their shit.

"Slow the fuck down jack rabbit!" Santana hollered as Brittany made it to the second floor landing, only earning a golden laugh from said blonde.

"Maybe you're just really slow!" No sooner had the words left Brittany's mouth, two small, dark haired girls flew past her. The one with caramel skin sprinting a few steps on the wall just to pass her.

"Holy shit.." Brittany breathed as she made it to her destination. "How in the hell did you do that? I had like 20 feet on you!" Quinn was just as amazed, coming to stand behind her sister.

"Practice makes perfect." Rachel shrugged, leaning against one of the beams in the middle of the room.

"So you've had a lot of practice at running away from things have you?" Quinn smirked as she and her sister started to look around the room.

"Call it what you will, I guess. But it's decidedly less thrilling." Santana drawled, coming out of her bathroom. "I'm into par core, have been for a long time. The hobbit likes to box. Running keeps our stamina up." The Latina shrugged like it was no big deal, and pulled a bottled water out of their little fridge, not offering anybody else anything.

"You guys are just full of interesting facts aren't you?" Brittany mused as she came to a rest by Santana's bed; looking down at it thoughtfully.

"Something like that." Rachel nodded in agreement, keeping an eye on their guests. Quinn was looking through some of the boxes that had been their upon arrival earlier in the day, and Brittany was wondering closer to where the Latina was leaning again one of the walls near the balcony doors.

"You think you guys would want to share a few more of those tomorrow? We can get to work on showing you around Lima. In exchange you guys can tell us stuff about yourselves." Quinn offered up the idea, reclosing one of the boxes.

"Sounds doable." Rachel and Santana grinned at their simultaneous answer.

"Can't promise the personal 411 is gonna be worth shit though." Rachel warned in a light tone. Light enough to fit the conversation, but true enough to make the blondes nod in acceptance. Rachel and Santana weren't just going to offer up past times, that's ok. The Pierce girls liked to be challenged.

"Maybe we can help you put some posters up tomorrow or something too. Bare walls aren't exactly expression of self." Quinn suggested, walking past Rachel toward Brittany and Santana.

"We'll see." Santana threw out snappily, before Rachel could. "See y'all around." Santana added, seeing that the girls were heading for the door.

"Be ready by 10am. Everybody in the Pierce family's a morning person. Hope you are too." Quinn smiled before they closed the door behind them, their steps fading away.

Santana looked at Rachel, Rachel looked back at Santana, two sets of arms crossed.

"Well fuck that noise." Two mouths stated in sync.

**Sorry for the short chapter, but I'm just filling space until I figure out what I want to do with this thing. Chapter ideas are welcome, I'll give full credit to you, so just PM if you have one. If not, PM anyway. :) I'd ask you to follow, review, ect.. but you already know what to do.** **Until next time..**


	3. Quirks

"Rachel Barbara Berry, turn that fucking alarm off or so help me god, I will throw it out of this fucking window" Santana groaned, and yelled across the room at the tender hour of 5am.

"That's _your _phone you fucking goon!" Rachel shouted back and buried her head in the pillows. Santana cursed, realizing that the hobbit was right.

Santana reached out to the bedside table, blindly slapping around for her phone until she palmed it, and blinked blearily, as she read the name. **Antonio Lopez **flashed up at her for only a second longer, as suddenly the sleepy Latina was wide awake. Santana slid the 'unlock' bar, and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" She breathed out, not realizing she'd been holding that much air in.

"Mija! How're things?" The gruff, familiar voice of her father asked through the receiver. His voice was thick with Spanish accent, and had the Queens tongue mixed in too, making him pretty fucking hard to understand.

"Things are.. good Papi. Rach and I've been tearin' it up." Santana pushed fake confidence into her voice. Her father had never liked weakness, so Santana had simply never shown any. Not that she was, in any way, weak.

"That's what I like to hear, baby girl!" Antonio chuckled and she heard him inhale deeply, of course he was smoking. If the Latina only remembered on thing about that man until the day she died, it would be that he always had a cigarette on his lips. "Tell they kid I said 'hey' will ya?" Antonio added after a beat of silence.

"Sure thing Papi. How's prison treatin' you?" Santana glanced over from her sitting position on her bed, to see that Rachel asleep across the room. Santana slid out from under her duvet, and tiptoed out onto the balcony; leaning against the rails, looking out as the fast approaching start of sunrise.

"Same old, same old kid." Antonio probably shrugged, another deep inhale. "What about you? How's the neighborhood?" There were very few things in this world that Antonio loved. One was his cigarettes, one was his love of gambling, and one was his neighborhood. The only reason he called his daughter was so she could send on his regards to old 'friends'.

Santana knew now would be a good time to lie. "It's good Papi. Puck went out with me and Rach out yesterday, we lifted a few cars, made a few bucks." Santana pulled a pretty standard one out of her repertory. It didn't require much questioning, and was completely believable.

"That's my baby!" Antonio chuckled on the other end.

"When are you out Papi?" Santana already knew, but it had become kind of tradition for her to ask on these calls.

"Three more years baby girl, just three more years."

"I guess I'll see you around then." Santana had love for her father, but not enough to _really _care about him.

"You sure will kid. Tell your mother I'm lookin' forward to seein' her ina few days, will ya?" Santana was surprised to say the least. Neighborhood crack whore, visiting her abusive husband in prison? Now she'd heard it all.

"Uh yeah, sounds doable." Antonio let out a long, loud laugh when he heard that, making Santana grimace, and hold the railing a little tighter.

"Aight kid, call you next week sometime." Antonio hung up before Santana could reply.

Santana ended her side of the call with a slightly shaking hand. She had been looking at the steadily rising sun for some time now, glancing down, she thought she saw a flash of blonde in the neighbor's yard, but then dismissed it as imagination.

"You really should stop answering those calls you know." A soft but firm voice floated towards Santana, effectively scaring the shit out of her.

Fucking hell hobbit! "Santana jumped about a foot in the air, "Ever heard of a warning shot? I almost cold cocked your ass!" Santana shook her head, slowly bringing her rapidly beating heart back to it comfortable pace.

"Yeah, because that's totally the scariest thing that's ever happened to you." Rachel drawled sarcastically, coming to stand beside her sister on the balcony. "You should stop answering his calls. He doesn't deserve you, sis. He really doesn't. Why do you keep crawling back to that?" Rachel shook her head at the Latina in pleading confusion.

"He's my fucking dad Rach. I can't just leave him to rot." Santana looked Rachel in the eyes, steeling herself, and her memories.

"Oh yeah, great reason Santana, that makes sense because he's just never left you out to dry before!" Rachel snapped, the sarcasm still lacing quite poisonously in her tone. Rachel shoved herself off of the railing, getting into an aggressive stance towards Santana.

"Like you'd fucking know anything about it Rachel! Your dad's six feet under, you didn't get the love and pain like I did!" Santana shoved herself off the rail like Rachel had, closing the distance so their faces were inches apart.

"You're right Santana, I didn't know my father, but I certainly fucking knew pain, and I have no love for that bitch because of it! Where's your self-respect?" Rachel shoved Santana's chest, hard. Her blood was boiling, they'd only ever had a few fights, they'd never turned into all out beat downs, but both girls were sure as hell geared up or one now.

"Fuck you!" Santana regained her balance and shoved Rachel just as hard. They were screaming at each other at this point, and a screen door slammed next door. Neither girl noticed.

Rachel ran a few steps at the angry Latina, and slammed into her, as hard as she could. Santana was lifted off her feet and over the balcony railing. Only too late did Rachel actually realize what the fuck she was doing.

Santana was flying backwards, only to reach out and just barely grab the bottom of the railing. Santana thanked anything and everything she'd ever heard of for her parkour upbringing.

"Oh my god!" Rachel's head snapped up as she was reaching her hand down to a dangling Latina, and Santana did her best to swivel her head without losing her shit.

Two blondes were in the yard next door. Brittany had been the on to yell. Quinn was just standing there like she'd been slapped.

"Holy shit we're coming over, what the fuck are you guys doing!" Brittany yelled again. She sounded angry. Then the girls disappeared from sight, Brittany dragging Quinn behind her.

"As much fun as that's going to be, fucking get away from me!" Santana spat up at Rachel, who was reaching out her hand again. "I can do it my fucking self!" True to her word, Santana took a deep breath, kicked the air, and did a really impressive pull up, practically jumping to the top of the railing, and then pulling herself over.

Santana slumped against the rail, sliding down until she was sitting, panting from exertion and adrenaline. Rachel slumped down next to her, head in her hands.

"I'm sorry S. I don't know what happened. I just lost my shit." Rachel growled through her hands, and Santana totally understood. Sure Rachel had been pissed at Santana, but now she was pissed at herself.

"Don't sweat it. We both said true shit, but it was the wrong way to say true shit." Santana reached her right arm over Rachel's shoulders, and pulled the girl in for a rough hug, releasing her quickly.

"True shit." Rachel agreed, smiling wryly at her wit.

"But for the record hobbit," Santana added, standing up and pulling the other girl with her. "I could totally kick your ass." The girls walked back into their bedroom.

"Keep dreamin' Satan." Rachel snarked back, putting stress on her Queens accent.

The girls crossed back to their respective sides. Santana grabbed the first things she touched in her suitcase, which ended up being a white tank top that had several different pictures of black and white vintage cameras on, a pair of light colored, cutoff short shorts, and threw on her white low top converse.

Rachel took a little more care, sifting around for a moment, settling on a purple tank top that said _Entitled _with a vintage picture of some band underneath. She threw on some dark short shorts and grey low top converse. It's safe to say they girls really did opt for the same sort of style.

"Shouldn't blonde ambition 1 and 2 be up here by now?" Santana ventured to ask, just as she was ruffling her hair in the mirror.

Rachel was about to answer when the door opened, without a knock may I add, and low and behold two blonde girls came stamping into the middle of the room.

Brittany swung around to face Santana, and Quinn looked around before she spotted Rachel. There was a beat of silence, and then everybody started talking at once.

"What the fu-

"Do you have any ide-

"Why'd you throw her off th-

"Is it really that hard to fucking kn-

"STOP!" Rachel shouted, and everybody piped the fuck down. "We had a little argument and it got out of hand. Not that it's any of your damn business." Rachel glared at each girl as she went back to fixing her hair for the day in her mirror.

"What the hell happened out there? If you hadn't noticed this is the fucking third floor! That drop would have killed you." Brittany rounded on Santana.

"Well I'm not lyin' dead in the yard, am I blondie?" Santana started in on the girl in Spanish.

"Santana, shut the fuck up!" Rachel yelled, and said girl dulled down to muttering in Spanish.

"What were you guys fighting about at 6am?" Quinn asked after a moment of tension charged silence.

Rachel and Santana looked at each other. Santana shook her head no.

"Santana made a bitchy comment, so I made a bitchy comment. Sister's fight. You guys should know how that is." Rachel dismissed it with a shrug, and then headed towards the door. "Aren't we going out with you guys today anyway?" She threw over her shoulder as Santana hid a grin and followed Rachel. Leaving two very confused blondes to trail after.

"Yeah, we fight, but I don't throw her over a balcony." Quinn called up to Rachel, seeing as the tiny brunette brawler was already half way down the second floor hallway.

"Well every family has there quirks." Santana snapped back at Quinn.

"Last time I checked a quirk was something weird and unique, not an act of violence." Brittany pointed out as they reached the stairs.

"Welcome to Queens." Santana smirked, irritating Brittany. Who the hell were these girls?

"I didn't know that was a 'quirk' even in a place like Queens." Quinn commented sarcastically.

"Well then consider yourself learnt." Rachel stepped off the stairs and into the kitchen, ending the conversation in a snobby accent, not a trace of hood in her vocals.

**Sorry guys for such a short chapter, but I figured this would be a good breaking point between. I'm working on the next right now, so it should be up by the end of the night. That being said.. review, follow, favorite, all that and then some. See you soon. **


	4. Split It Up

"Girls!" Valarie exclaimed as one after the other they filed into the kitchen. "What are you two doing here?" The woman turned from the stove where she was making pancakes and eggs, to look at Brittany and Quinn.

"We just came to get Santana and Rachel a little earlier than planned." Quinn answered quickly, and then looked at the floor. What a shitty liar.

Valarie just cocked her head to the side, and then shook it off. "Well you're obviously welcome to stay for breakfast." The blondes smiled and took seats at the island in the middle of the fancy kitchen.

"What about you girls, did you sleep ok? I'm sorry if you needed anything, I forgot to tell you last night. Dan and I sleep in the basement, and its sound proof because of all his instruments down there, so I couldn't hear if you actually knocked on the door or something." Valarie looked apprehensive, and it took everything Santana and Rachel had not to scoff in the disheveled ginger's face. Did they look like they needed her?

"Wasn't a problem, thanks though." Santana quipped, and took the open seat next to Brittany. Rachel was quick to add on, shooting Santana a pointed look that everybody caught but Valarie.

"We didn't have any problems, and the beds are really damn comfortable." Rachel shot a small smile at the woman, who gave a small frown.

"I don't really know how to say this, but we don't really swear in this house." Valarie shifted awkwardly as Santana's head snapped up and suddenly she was ramrod straight. Rachel was no better, suddenly feeling judged. "It's fine if you want to say those things outside, but in here we just don't like to use bad language. We like to show God how much we appreciate him by keeping our language and hearts clean." Valarie said it with a smile, like that was actually a good explanation. Santana was ready to fucking explode, Rachel right along with her. Not only did they find out their new 'parents' were a couple of bible thumpers, they were told they couldn't even swear. Well fuck that noise.

"I think that's done cooking Valarie!" Brittany slapped the table just as Santana opened her mouth to tell the woman to go back to whatever Seventh Heaven she came from and stay the fuck there.

"Oh! Gosh you're right, almost burnt it. Thanks Brittany." The woman dished up four ivory plates with pancakes and eggs.

"That looks really good Val." Quinn complimented as the eccentric redhead ambled over, balancing the four plates.

Brittany and Quinn poured syrup and spread butter on their pancakes, digging in right away. Rachel and Santana pushed their plates away, still fucking peeved about the no swearing rule, but it wasn't just that. They didn't really eat anything unless they had watched the person make it from scratch. It was just a thing that had become habit since they were thirteen, when a foster mom had sprinkled marijuana into some brownies, resulting in the girls feeling very strange and sick. The weed had been bad, and the woman had just needed guinea pigs.

"Aren't you girls hungry, you barely touched your food last night either." Valarie looked at the brunettes with something like concern in her eyes, making the blondes look over to gauge the reaction.

"Not hungry." They said in unison.

"Do you like it here so far?" Valarie sighed dejectedly, changing the subject.

Santana and Rachel just stared, these types of questions were always tricky, and usually shit went down if the adults weren't satisfied with the answer, so they kept silent.

"Right…" Valarie exhaled the word. Why were they being so frustrating? When Claire Grace had told her about these two, she'd made it crystal clear that they were from a very hard life, very different than the richest neighborhood in Lima, Ohio. But Claire Grace had also said they were very moral girls. That they had respect and loyalty and that they were both really smart. What Valarie was now realizing, Mrs. Grace had meant that the girls were only those things to each other. Sure, they had manners, but come on, it was like Chinese water torture trying to get even the simplest of answers.

"Hey Val, what time is it?" Brittany cut through the tension in a voice that suggested nothing was amiss.

"It's about 9:15. What're you planning to do with them today?" Valarie replied, glancing at the fancy wall clock, they back to the tall blonde who was finishing her breakfast.

"Just show them around downtown, go the Lima Bean, hit the park, maybe introduce then to the gang or something." Brittany threw out the possibilities, looking over to see if Santana or Rachel had any thoughts, but they were busy in their own whispered conversation, like nobody else was in the room.

"I think we should split up, we could show them more." Quinn interjected hopefully; this Rachel girl really intrigued her. The brunette could definitely keep up good conversation, based on the wit she'd seen so far, and Quinn had a feeling she might show that some more if she were on her own.

Brittany caught on, glancing over again to look at the gorgeous Latina. "Yeah! Actually that would work out better, because we could get to know them one on one before hanging out with a bunch of friends and stuff." Santana and Rachel had indeed been having their own conversation, mostly about what Puck would say if he were here and this not swearing bullshit, but at Brittany's words their heads snapped up.

"I think that's a great idea!" Valarie exclaimed, cutting both furious brunettes off.

"Rachel, do you want to hang out today?" Quinn offered timidly. The blonde couldn't look the other girl in the eyes, they were too intense.

So many things came to Rachel's mind, Santana being top of the list, but the only words that came out of her mouth were, "Sounds doable."

"So I guess that leaves you and me huh?" Santana gave Rachel a glare at abandoning her, and then swung around so Brittany knew she was talking to her.

"Yeah, I guess it does, we could go to the park, see a movie, get coffee, whatever you want." Brittany hoped the girl would give her some clue as to what she liked to do.

"Sure." Was all she got in response.

The girls said their goodbyes to Valarie, who apologized, saying that Dan was probably still asleep, and headed for the door. Once outside Santana and Rachel started in.

"No swearing? God? Who the fuck does she think she is?" They were setting a fast pace down the driveway, the two blondes startled at the change of pace and conversation, jogging to keep up.

"I know! Like that bitch knows anything about us!" Rachel huffed, kicking a rock out of her way.

"Valarie isn't a bitch! She's just got a religion. What, they don't have that where you're from?" Brittany felt the need to defend the woman. Big mistake. Santana pulled up short and rounded on her.

"What the fuck would you know about where we're from Princess? While you sat up in your huge fucking room, in your huge fucking house, and did your fucking perfect blonde hair, we were in a fucking slum! So don't act like you know shit about where we're from, you got that?" Santana spun on her heel; these fucking girls just always had to stick their nose where it didn't belong. But Brittany wasn't done yet.

"I didn't mean it like that! I was just saying that Valarie's a fucking awesome person, and she's not asking you to kill somebody, she's asking you to stop swearing IN THE HOUSE." Brittany pointed out. At this point they had all come to a fork in the road, literally, one road lead farther into north Lima, one led back towards south Lima, where the two brunettes knew the CPS office was.

"Killing somebody would be easier!" Rachel threw in. Some battles Santana had to fight on her own, but this seemed unfair to the boxer too.

"Well if you're so badass, suck it up and quit whining like a bitch!" Brittany jabbed Santana in the chest with her fingers. She hadn't meant to go that far, but Valarie was like family, and this girl was acting really high and mighty for someone so new to a decent family.

Rachel sprang out, jumping in front of Brittany to hold Santana back. "You fucking stay here!" The mediating brunette yelled at Brittany as she pulled back a very angry Santana, who was still going off in a mix of Spanish and English.

"Why'd you have to say that Britt?" Quinn turned to her sister once Santana and Rachel were a few yards away, arguing in hushed tones.

"I don't know! She was acting like a bitch and I was getting tired of it. I mean, what the hell? She takes that phone call this morning, you know, when we go back from our jog, then gets into it with Rachel, where she ended up hanging off a fucking balcony, then we get to their room, and it's like nothing even happened! I don't get it Q." Brittany shook her head back and forth.

"I don't either, but I know you like her, and I feel like she'll be worth getting to know. You should apologize, I would want to slap the shit out of you too if you called me a bitch, seeing as you've known her a grand total of 15 hours." Quinn nodded in the direction of the two other girls, Santana was visibly calming down, and Rachel was grinning slightly at something the Latina had said.

Brittany looked on for a second longer, then sighed in resignation. "You're right. Let's just hope she doesn't tear my head off. And I don't like her! I met her yesterday, at the most I think she's pretty mystery, but that's it." Brittany stated firmly as they walked over to the other two.

"If you're going to apologize I don't want to hear it." Santana cut her off the second she opened her mouth. "Just let it die there, and we can get this fucking day over with." The Latina said it, but the words didn't feel hostile, they almost sounded tired. Almost.

"Yeah… ok." Brittany nodded her head slowly, holding the Latina's gaze. Something in Santana stirred when she looked into those glacier blue eyes. They were beautiful. And that scared the shit out of Santana.

"Ok. Well now that our shit is sorted, can we all grow the fuck up and get the rest of the day done with?" Rachel clapped her hands, interrupting the silence.

"Uh yeah, we're heading north. Just this road for another half mile, and then we can split up. I guess we don't have to actually. Britt and I just thought it would be nice." Quinn looked at the ground, then back up at Rachel, who had an amused smile on her lips.

"We can split. It's doable, no worries short stack." Santana surprised everyone by answering, and stared up again, heading down the sidewalk, away from south Lima.

"You're not exactly tall either." Brittany commented after her, making Santana smirk.

"Do I honestly look short to you?" And she had a point. The way the brunettes' carried themselves really was impressive. They definitely didn't look like girls you would want to mess with, but they were still absolutely feminine. Yet another thing to add to the mystery list.

"Touché." Brittany conceded, allowing a small grin to float across her features.

The town wasn't busy, but it wasn't empty either. The rest of the walk there had been witty comments and smart ass replies from both parties. Currently they were on Main Street. Really original.

"Guess this is where we split. Call me in an hour sis." Santana turned to Rachel, making sure the girl had her phone on her, and understood that checking in was a must.

"It's doable." Rachel nodded.

"It's done." Santana corrected, reaching out and giving the back of Rachel's neck a light squeeze.

"It's a small town, you don't have to worry about anything happening. The only thing you have to watch out for it south Lima. Just the other day some guy shot a woman over a drug deal." Quinn shook her head, it baffled her that things like that happened so close to her home, yet it felt like she lived a world away. Money really was the best kind of security blanket.

"Sounds like home to me." Rachel shrugged, bumping shoulders with Santana. "We'll have to check it out later Snixx."

"Sounds doable." Santana smirked.

"Sounds done." Rachel quoted, and the girls shared rueful grins. Two very confused blondes standing off to the side, just watching the little exchange.

"Let's grab coffee really quick." Quinn shook her head, and pointed to the nearest coffee shop.

"Yeah, let's do it." Brittany grabbed Santana's hand, pulling her over and inside of an air conditioned store.

"Order whatever it's our treat." Quinn waved the other two off.

"We can pay for ourselves," Rachel snapped rudely. "We don't need your charity." Quinn was taken aback, it was one step forward two steps back.

"Yeah, I know it isn't charity. It's called being polite. You guys are new here, hospitality remember?" Quinn was trying to make them see it her way. But, maybe someday she really could by Rachel a coffee…

"Whatever Pierce, but you know… thanks." Santana added the last word grudgingly, and it gave Quinn a rush of pride to know that she'd humbled the smart ass Latina, even if it was only for a moment.

"It's Fabray actually." Quinn commented unconsciously.

Only Rachel heard, making the little brawler look over at Quinn with a little bit of curiousity. Quinn felt eyes on her, and lifted her head. She'd been expecting an ocean, she ended up with chocolate. Rachel really did have amazing eyes. If you looked hard enough you could see all the troubles and stress though, and for some reason Quinn didn't like the idea of anything bothering Rachel, so she looked away.

The store was the same as usual in the summer. They sold iced coffee and tea to the people of Lima, it was just like every other coffee place in the world. It smelled like fresh grounds and baked goods, it had different tables scattered throughout, and over all dark wooden color scheme, and had numerous electrical outlets for people to take advantage of the free wifi. As of the current moment, the only people in the shop itself was the four girls, and a high school girl reading a magazine behind the counter.

"Hey Tina!" Brittany bounced up to the girl at the counter, who startled a little bit. Looks like she had been sleeping rather than reading.

"Oh, hey Britt." Tina said after a moment, stretching languidly.

"Long night? Didn't you stay over at Mike's place?" Brittany waggled her eyebrows suggestively, getting a light smack in the head from Tina.

"None of your business Pierce!" But Tina had a small grin on her lips.

"Oh right, I'm being a douche. Tina this is Santana and Rachel." Brittany gestured to the girls behind her respectively.

"Hey." Rachel offered and Santana just nodded towards the Asian girl, afraid of saying anything for fear of a racial slur. She'd learned the hard way when she was younger that you couldn't joke about that kind of shit unless you were actually good friends with someone.

"Hi! I'm Tina. So you guys are Dan and Val's foster kids?" Tina asked politely. She seemed nice enough.

"Something like that." Santana confirmed with a small smile that could pass for friendly.

"We've got a lot to do today actually Tina, so we'll have our usuals, and these guys want.." Quinn trailed off.

"Iced vanilla mocha." Santana nodded her thanks.

"Chai tea." Rachel did the same as Quinn pulled some cash out of her front pocket and paid the girl.

"Thanks T!" Brittany and Quinn chorused when the drinks were done, Santana and Rachel muttering their thank yous.

"Have fun!" Tina called after them as they left the shop.

"Ok! We have drinks, and the whole day. Let's meet up for lunch in a few hours." Brittany suggested, making sure everybody agreed before waving to a departing Quinn and Rachel.

"And then there were two." Santana smirked, nodding her head in the opposite direction of Rachel and Quinn.

"Tell me about it." Brittany replied, following after.

**Hey guys, I stayed up to finish this chapter. I'm pretty sure I know where I want this story to go, so the progression will be a lot better, I promise. Now that that's out of the way… Review, follow, favorite, the full Monty. See you around.**


	5. Paint the Town Red

**In honor of all the kind words, I hereby dedicate this Saturday, to giving you guys a longer chapter. Carry on. Oh, yeah, before I forget. This chapter is kind of split up. Faberry first then Brittana rather than doing two chapters. Skip around, read it backwards, just a little heads up though. So yeah, carry on… again.**

Lima was a whole different ballgame, especially with one hazel eyed blonde. The conversation started out easy enough. Quinn was talking about how she knew Tina. Then she started saying something about a glee club.

"Hold up, what club?" Rachel had no idea what she was talking about. But can you blame her, I mean they didn't exactly have glee clubs in her high school.

"Glee club. You know, singing and dancing and stuff?" Quinn gave her a sideways glance with her perfect little eyebrows raised. Wait, perfect?

"Not really. They extent of the team spirit at my old school was the time was had a fireworks. In the middle of the school day, unplanned." Rachel grinned remembering how she, Santana, and Puck had managed to set off a shit load of fireworks their first day back at South Side High.

Quinn's laugh was melodic. "That sounds like a good day at school for a few badasses."

"Yet it was my badassness that got pegged for it. Man, my mom went crazy." Rachel's smile faded, and she unconsciously reached back to brush over what she knew would be a faded cigarette burn.

"Your mom?" Quinn asked surprised. The girls were crossing a sleepy intersection, headed towards what looked like a dead end to Rachel.

"What about her?" Rachel turned to face the confused girl. Quinn opened her mouth and closed it again, fingering the material of her skirt. Rachel hadn't really paid attention to what she was wearing until this point. But now she noticed a pretty short white skirt, a light grey tank top that said _Keep Walking _and some black ballet flats. Pretty, Rachel mused.

"It's just," Quinn seemed to have found the words. "Since you're in foster care I just thought that your parents would be… gone." Quinn was obviously feeling uncomfortable, and for some reason it wasn't as irritating to Rachel as it should be.

"Ever heard of an unfit parent, Fabray?" Rachel gave the little push. She'd been curious about what Quinn had said at the shop, and this was the perfect opportunity to get the spotlight off of her.

"So you did catch that…" Quinn mused.

"It was hard not to, but then again I don't usually miss much."

"Well then you're brilliant." Quinn smirked.

"Tell me something I don't know." Rachel shrugged nonchalantly, before giving the blonde a small grin. The sun was starting to heat everything up, and a stout man waved hello to Quinn as they passed what looked like a bicycle store.

"Just after I was born, my dad got into a car accident driving home from Cincinnati. Russell Fabray. Susan and Will are my god parents. My mom's in the army. She's been deployed most of my life, since there's no bases close to Lima, she's always somewhere far away. I talk about Will and Susan like they're my parents, because that's what they've been to me, but I definitely don't call them mom and dad." Quinn shrugged. No love there it looks like.

"That's tough shit about your mom." Rachel didn't really want to get into the topic of parents, but I guess there could be worse things shared today than a few dead parent stories.

"What about your parents' then; if they aren't dead?" Quinn pulled Rachel's elbow, and the girls rounded a corner. A few cars were starting to pass by, and some shop owners were turning their store signs to **OPEN**.

"Why do you want to know so much?" Rachel attempted a light hearted comment, earning a smile from Quinn.

"You're like an alien to me. You have a weird accent, you're big city, and if you want to get technical, yesterday you did agree to dishing out some stories about yourself." Quinn took a little leap of faith and nudged Rachel's shoulder. The other girl stiffened for a second, but then seemed to get that it was a friendly gesture, and nudged Quinn right back.

"Not much to tell though. I'm from probably the worst part of Queens, the Southside. My dad died when I was pretty young. He got mugged and shot one night. I was five or six I think." Rachel just kind of left it there, hoping Quinn would get the picture and not ask about her mom.

"How do you just say that like it doesn't matter?" Quinn shook her head in baffled surprise. "Oh, this is the shop!" Quinn pulled Rachel into a door before the brunette had a chance to respond.

The store was kind of grungy, soft jazz was playing through speakers somewhere in the place. Shelves of CDs lined the walls, racks or records were scattered throughout the lowly lit room, and crates of what looked like tapes were pushed up against a far wall. Instruments like guitars and saxophones hung off of the walls, and more posters than Rachel could count were hung up haphazardly.

"This place is fucking classy." Rachel commented approvingly as she looked around.

"I love it here too. The guy that owns it, Charlie is probably somewhere in the back." Quinn watched Rachel take in her surroundings and gave herself an internal high five.

"And he just leaves the front door unlocked when he's not around?"

"Well, yeah, why's that matter?"

"Ever heard of robbery? This place would be lifted clean in a second in Southside." Rachel was amazed that this place wasn't just emptied out by now. Then again, this was really rich neighborhood, it'd be a suicide mission to steal anything up here.

"Well welcome to North Lima, home of the honesty hour. People don't really need to steal; they have too much going for them to wind up in jail." Quinn pointed out.

"This place is awesome, but- Rachel's phone chimed from her pocket.

**Sister Satan: Hey hobbit. I'm hungry as hell so you and princess candy land need to get your asses over to some restaurant called Breadstix.**

**Ru Paul Rachel: Pipe down. We'll be there in a few.**

**Sister Satan: Well hurry the fuck up!**

**Ru Paul Rachel: Don't tell me what to do asshole.**

**Sister Satan: Or what? You'll throw me off another balcony?**

Rachel grinned down at the screen of her iPhone, courtesy of Claire Grace and her large salary. If Santana wasn't as witty as she was, Rachel really would have lost her mind by now.

"Hey Quinn, San said something about lunch right now, at a place called Breadstix?" Rachel looked up to find Quinn throwing money on the counter, but had nothing in her hands.

"I have a running tab." She said by way of explanation. "Yeah, it's like three blocks down that way." Quinn pointed in a direction Rachel hadn't been to yet.

"How about I give you ten random facts and a story, and then we can call the twenty questions over for the day?" Rachel threw out. She didn't want to get too deep, but this girl was nice and a good conversationalist, so why not humor her a little.

"Did I just gain your trust?" Quinn sucked in a theatrical breath. "I think I just came!" Quinn let the air out of her lungs dramatically, and for the first time in a long time Rachel burst out laughing. It was music to Quinn's ears. She had a beautiful laugh. What the hell is going on?

"I wouldn't flatter yourself, Princess. Maybe I just want you off my back." Rachel's laughter was subsiding slightly, but the occasional chuckle still escaped her lips.

"Well then I'll take what I can get. For now." Quinn added with a wink. "So, what's your favorite color?" Rachel shot her a look that said, 'really?' but answered all the same.

"Purple."

"How old were your parents when you were born?" Quinn had a feeling that Rachel's parents weren't too mature.

"My mom was 16. My dad was 17." Rachel gave a reluctant smile, it had been a good question.

"When's your birthday?" Quinn was curious now, after hearing how young her parents had been.

"August 29th. So, in a few weeks. San's is in a few days though. It's the 13th, we're both turning 17." As Rachel spoke she remembered that she still needed to get something for Santana, she knew exactly what she needed to get, but didn't really know where to find it in this town.

"What's your favorite food?" Quinn was making a mental list of all these things.

"I like pizza, any kind really. I'm not picky though, food in general." Rachel shrugged.

"I want the story now. Why don't you touch the food Valarie makes? You have to be starving by now." Rachel had thrown the topic up for conversation when she answered about favorite food, and Quinn had been quick enough to shoot it out of the sky.

"It's not actually that big of a secret. San and I were 11 or 12 or 13, I don't really remember when now, but we had this one foster mom who sold pot. Thing was though, she would test it on us. Like, to see if it was good enough shit to sell. So we'd get home from school and take a brownie, and then sometimes it made you feel really good, and other times you'd feel like shit after. We caught on the first week, but there were… consequences for not doing what we were told. After three weeks there we ran away, right back to the CPS office, taking little Puck with us, and a few days later, we had a new 'family'." Rachel ran through the story quickly, not really wanting to hash it out in further detail.

"Who's Puck?" Quinn seemed to get that Rachel didn't want to talk about it, so she honed in on something else.

"We share a mom. He's my little half-brother. Well, San's too I guess. His real name is Noah Puckerman, but he's like full blood family to us. That was probably the hardest thing about leaving Queens. Claire, our social worker, she's trying to get him out here to Lima with us, but not a lot of people want foster kids in this place I guess." Rachel straightened her shoulders and acted like it didn't matter, but it did matter, a lot.

"How old is he?" Quinn was intrigued.

"Is that one of your questions?" Rachel baited.

"Does it have to be?" Quinn challenged back.

Rachel looked at the blonde out of the corner of her eye for a second, sizing the other girl up, before answering. "He's turning 15 in October."

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Quinn beamed, and Rachel shoved her lightly off the curb. If it was Santana or Puck she probably would have pushed them quite hard into a tree or something of that nature, but she didn't really want to play rough with Quinn.

"You still have four questions left." Rachel reminded her. It was easy talking to Quinn.

"I haven't forgotten. But that," Quinn pointed up the street to a rapidly approaching building. "Is Breadstix. Wait until you try their food, it's to die for." Quinn grabbed Rachel's hand, something anyone else would have been arm barred for doing, and started to run. The brunette easily kept pace, and easily kept their hands interlocked.

"Finally! I'm dying here hobbit!" Was the first thing Rachel and Quinn hear as the enter the restaurant.

"She's been bitching about how hungry she is for like three hours." Brittany slid over in the booth, closer to Santana to make room for Quinn and Rachel.

"Damn straight." Santana nodded in agreement, earning a light punch from Rachel.

"We ordered for you guys since you took so long. Quinn I got you the alfredo, and a diet coke." Brittany tapped her sister on the top of the head to get her attention.

"And I got your sorry ass some spaghetti and a water, so you get what you get." Santana swatted Rachel's hand out of the air when the boxer tried to thump her on the forehead.

"So let's talk about school!" Brittany cheered, sipping her lemonade. "Quinn and I are on Cheerios. We're co-captains." The tall blonde pushed Quinn's shoulder, wanting her to elaborate.

"We're cheerleaders, and our coach is an evil bitch to put it nicely. You'll be pleased to know you're sitting with the two most popular girls in school." Quinn rolled her eyes in mock superiority.

"That's your big claim to fame? You guys are just nice pieces of ass?" Santana scoffed, and Rachel choked on a laugh at the two faces across from her. The blondes looked absolutely scandalized.

"Y'all are having lunch with two of the most feared bitches in the Southside." Santana smirked and threw a wink in for good measure. Brittany turned a light shade of pink. Hmm.

"Well you aren't in Kansas anymore Toto, so maybe you should reign that ego in a little." Quinn recovered first at threw Santana a jab.

"So what's the big deal about being a cheerleader in this town? What's your school called?" Rachel intervened before Santana could snap back.

"McKinley High. Ever heard of the expression curiosity killed the cat?" Quinn locked eyes with Rachel.

"Guess it's a good thing I'm more of a dog person then isn't it?" Rachel quipped back.

"And I just fucking hate cats." Santana slapped the table, breaking the moment.

"Food's here!" Brittany grinned, and sent Quinn a smirk.

The waiter was a blonde boy about their age. He put the tray on the edge of the table, and didn't make eye contact with any of them. Brittany and Quinn didn't say anything to him as he set their food down, and Santana and Rachel shared a frown. When the boy set down the brunettes' lunches, he didn't look at them either.

"Thanks man." Santana smiled genuinely. The kid looked like a decent human being.

"Yeah, thanks bro." Rachel added, cause the three blondes' heads to snap up. Quinn looked like she was trying to warn the girls, Brittany looked upset, and the boy looked confused. He looked between Quinn and Brittany who gave him glares in turn.

"Uh, no problem. Enjoy your food." The words were gruff and slung together; Rachel and Santana picked up on the familiarity of the words. The kid walked away quickly.

The four girls were left just staring at each other, waiting for someone to say something, anything to explain the awkwardness that just happened. Even the few people around them were looking over.

"Anybody want to tell me what the fuck just happened?" Santana cut through the silence bluntly, having recovered first. Rachel was a close second.

"Yeah, weren't you guys going to say anything to him? What the hell were the dirty looks about?" Rachel gave Quinn and then Brittany a deep frown.

"That's Sam. He goes to McKinley with us." Was all Brittany said.

"And what? He ain't up to your social standards or something." The words came out of Santana's mouth rushed and slightly angry, so they were hard for the blondes to understand, but Rachel heard loud and clear.

"No, it's not that at all! Well it kind of is…" Quinn trailed off.

"He's from Lima Heights Adjacent, south Lima. He's a total hood. He smokes weed, and drinks, and vandalizes peoples cars at school. Him and his little gang of friends put a dent in my Audi last year just because then could." Brittany shifted in her seat, but seemed to think her explanation was a good one.

"Wait, so south Lima kids go to school with north Lima kids?" Rachel didn't even care about the hood slur; the description of Ken Doll was right up her alley.

"Yeah, their school burnt down last year, so the mayor decided that we should just merge the schools." Quinn avoided Santana's eyes, which were currently staring a malicious hole in the side of her head.

"I think we just found our clique sis." Rachel sat back in the booth and started chewing a forkful of spaghetti. The food tasted amazing, especially after practically having nothing in the last two days.

"You guys can't hang out with them!" Brittany scoffed at Rachel.

"Oh yeah, why's that?" Santana swallowed her mouthful of breadstick and questioned Brittany.

"Well A) They're really dangerous, and they're criminals. B) They're the bottom of the social ladder, and C) which kind of goes along with B, you'll get slushied every day."

"Fuck the alphabet. Those 'hoods' are probably the closest thing we can get to feeling normal here. I mean, you can't be that much of a bigot." Santana scoffed at Brittany.

"Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. Enough of the kids in south Lima are thugs, that they all get a bad rep." Quinn shrugged. This town was becoming clearer and clearer in the dark eyes of two teenage girls.

Rachel was about to comment, but something caught her eye. Across the room, a group of chatty high school girls were coming through the door.

"Lord Jesus, give me patience." Brittany muttered sarcastically before plastering on a fake smile, Quinn already one step ahead.

"I'm missing something." Santana whispered to Rachel as the posse of prep spotted them all, and bounced over.

"Those girls are junior Cheerios this year, that blonde there, that's Ariel. She's the total ring leader, she's been gunning for head cheerleader since freshman year." Brittany picked up Santana's question, informing them quickly of the giant ball of divas headed their way.

Ariel was gorgeous. That was the first thing that Santana noticed. She kind of looked like Brittany. Same hair and they were around the same height, but where Santana was expecting the sea, she saw forest green looking back at her.

"Captain Fabray! Captain Pierce! Good afternoon." Ariel and the other girls gave fake smiles to the blondes.

"Right… this is Rachel and Santana. They're seniors this year." Brittany clipped as Ariel's eyes trained on Santana.

"I'm Ariel. These are the girls. I guess we'll see you guys around." Santana and Rachel nodded their goodbyes, and watched as Quinn and Brittany shared a look.

"Let's bounce, all that perfume is blocking my lungs." Santana broke the tension, earning a grudging smile from Brittany. Mission accomplished.

"Yeah, we should get out of here before Santana starts a fight." Rachel pinches Santana's cheeks in mock condescendingness.

"Bitch the only thing I would start with all those girls would be an impromptu sex riot." Quinn busted out laughing, and Brittany and Rachel shook their heads, as the four headed out into the summer heat.

"I think it would go something along the lines of you embarrassing yourself." Rachel jumped onto the sidewalk, ducking into the shade on the side of the building.

"You'd like that wouldn't you hobbit?"

"The day you make a fool out of yourself is the day hell freezes over, so yeah, I'd crawl through broken glass just to see that."

"Careful what you wish for." Santana threw an elbow, catching Rachel in the top of her ribs. Santana grinned as she jumped back, throwing her fists up.

Brittany and Quinn followed the girls into the shade of the alley in time to see Santana jab Rachel, and figured this was a good opportunity to watch something while their food settled. Brittany and Quinn leaned into a stairway rail, and crossed their arms, amused smirks in place.

"You think that's a good idea?" Rachel taunted, they circled each other, taking half ass swipes.

Santana suddenly jumped forward and shoved Rachel's chest, hard. Before the fighter had a chance to regain her balance, she was met with a solid kick to the stomach, sending her backwards in to the wall.

Santana knew this was her chance to get away, if Rachel recovered her ass would be grass. Santana was laughing the whole time she ran over to Brittany and tugged her hand, the tall blonde showing mild concern for the girl taking small gasps for air, but more amusement because of the hysterical Latina.

"I'm- gonna.. kick your- ass!" Rachel gasped out after the sprinting Latina.

"Catch me if you can!" Santana called in reply.

"She's gonna be so pissed!" Santana pulled Brittany around the corner of the alley, disappearing from Rachel's sight. Their fingers were still interlocked.

"Oh my god! That was awesome! Wait, is she ok?" Brittany was having fun right now. This ice queen who hadn't really been all that receptive so far was quickly melting.

"She'll be fine. That was fucking classy!" Santana and Brittany sprinted up the sidewalk, not really concerned about running from Rachel anymore, just high on simple pleasures. Brittany concentrated on the feeling of Santana's hand in her own. Small, caramel fingers were soft and cool in the summer heat.

"Where we headed Pierce?" Santana had been leading the impromptu run, but quickly realized she had no clue where in the hell she was going.

"Let's hit the park. It's like a block up. Race you!" Brittany released their hands, with slight reluctance, and went full out. Santana let her go for a second, smirking as she picked up the pace.

"Hah!" Santana wheezed, dropping to the grass under a tree in Lima Park. "I beat yo ass Pierce!" Brittany dropped on to the ground next to her, panting and sweaty.

"That's so not fair! I had run around the jungle gym, you just ran over the top." Brittany rolled on to her side to face a chuckling Latina. "How'd you do that? I totally would have broken my leg!" Santana rolled to face her, a few feet between them.

"I guess I just have to show you some time. That way you might have a chance in the next race." Santana rolled back over, staring up at the luscious green leaves, her breathing already evening out.

"I might just have to take you up on that." Brittany sat up, scooting back to lean against the warm bark of the tree. A slight breeze blew over them, cementing that peaceful second in time.

Santana had her eyes open, but they weren't focused on anything in particular, and Brittany wondered what she was thinking about.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"You, at the moment." Santana and Brittany were both taken aback at her blunt honesty.

"And what about me?" Brittany kept her cool, but the not knowing was killing her.

"Just thinking about today. I told you about Puck, and we talked about parkour and the eleventh president for some reason."

"Polk." Brittany interjected with a smile.

"Yeah, him. It's just nice to be in a place like this. Lima's pretty different. Queens, especially Southside, you're always watching your back. There's gangs all over the place. This town just seems like a dream, and soon enough I'll wake up and be back to kill or be killed." Santana exhaled and closed her eyes.

"If you're looking for some fight or flight situations just wait until school starts next month. In summer nobody gives a shit about what you do, who you do, but when school starts, it's all about image." Brittany leaned over and slapped the brunette's shoulder, getting her attention.

"Say I _want _to be _popular _at this school, which in all honesty I don't give two shits about, but what would that take?" Santana sat up like Brittany, and leaned against the trunk, finally taking in her surroundings. The girl next to her wore her hair down, in long golden curls, a plain white v-neck, some mint green booty shorts, and grey vans. The nature was almost as beautiful. A pond was maybe 20 feet away; ducks fluttering their wings and diving under. A sidewalk ran through the park behind them, with a jungle gym just a little ways beyond that. The sound of children playing drifted by on the breeze, only adding to the peacefulness of the little utopia.

"You'd have to join Cheerios, or the Skanks." Brittany shrugged, and rolled her head to face Santana.

"The Skanks?"

"They're this group of punk rock chicks. In all honesty they're just a bunch of bitches with something to prove to nobody, but you didn't hear that from me. I'd hate to be shanked for speaking against them." Brittany held one hand to her chest in mock fear, and then rolled her eyes at Santana's amused expression.

"Sounds like a bunch of wannabes. But what about you? What do you wanna be?" Santana was actually genuinely curious. And that surprised both girls.

"I like Cheerios, being captains with Quinn is great, but the only reason I really joined in the first place is because I like to dance."

"And…"

"And there's this club we have. Glee club. Singing and dancing, stuff like that. It looks like a ton of fun, but if Coach Sylvester found out Quinn and I even wanted to join, we'd be off the Cheerios, and by default the popularity ladder, in a second." Brittany sighed dejectedly. "So I don't really have a choice in the matter."

"You don't have a choice? What happens if you lose your social cred, huh? You get 'slushied' or whatever? If somebody threw a drink on me I'd beat there ass into next week." Santana shrugged. "Just beat the shit out of any dick who slushies you, and you'll still be the cat's meow." Santana made it all sound so simple, but it was hard enough liking girls in McKinley, the red and white was her armor. If she didn't have that then she would have nothing.

"If that's your attitude about it, I honestly can't wait to see your first day of school." Brittany grinned and pushed Santana over, before standing up. "Come on, I told Val we'd be back before dinner, and we're cutting it close." Brittany stuck out her hand, helping Santana off the ground. Their fingers stayed tangled a second longer than necessary. The girls locked eyes, and then looked down at their hands, letting go at the same time.

"I'll text the hobbit, tell her we're on our way."

**Ru Paul Rachel: We're heading back to that fork in the road.**

**Sister Satan: Headed that way too. See you in ten?**

**Ru Paul Rachel: Sounds doable.**

"How'd you and Rachel meet?" Brittany ventured as they crossed through the park, a few kids playing in the late afternoon sun.

"We grew up on the same block. Then Puck was born, and we hung out a lot in and out of school. Then Rach's dad got shot. A little while after that Puck was born, and things kind of went downhill from there with the rents." Santana answered easily. Talking to Brittany wasn't strained anymore. The girl was actually pretty enjoyable to talk to.

"You guys have parents?" Brittany wasn't expecting that one. Because, like, everybody in foster care was an orphan right? Wrong.

"Hah! You should see your face!" Santana chuckled. It was a kind of bitter chuckle, but it was a laugh at least. "Yeah. But they're shit. My dad's locked up, I don't really know where my mom is, last I heard she was sleeping under the L, and Rach's mom took off around a year ago."

"Fuck."

"I knew there was something I liked about you." Santana grinned at the shock on Brittany's face. "But don't worry about it. Looks like we actually have something promising here in Lima."

"We'll see." Brittany had caught the double meaning. She gave the Latina a smirk, and skipped ahead of her. They were nearing the fork when Santana's phone buzzed.

**Madre Claire: Hey San! I have some great news, but it'll have to wait until your birthday. Things are looking up!**

**Snixx Was Here: Are you coming to Lima?**

**Madre Claire: Quit changing your name in my phone! Yeah, I've got a surprise for you too.**

**Snixx Was Here: Last time you said that I broke my pinky…**

**Madre Claire: You want your present or not?**

**Snixx Was Here:… See you in a few days.**

**Madre Claire: I win this one! **

Santana smirked at her phone but didn't dignify Claire's comment with a witty retort, she'd let the woman have this one.

"Is that Rach?" Santana raised her eyebrows at the adopted pet name, but didn't comment.

"Uh, no actually. It's my social worker, Cl- Mrs. Grace. She was letting me know she's gonna be in town for my 17th in a few days." Santana explained.

"It's your birthday in a few days?" Brittany asked, suddenly excited. She loved birthdays.

"So it would seem."

"Whoa! Calm down, your enthusiasm is giving me ulcers." Brittany quipped sarcastically.

"I don't see what the big deal is unless it's like 18 or 21." Santana shrugged. They'd made it to the fork, Rachel and Quinn could be seen rounding a corner in the distance.

"The big deal is that it's your birthday! Birthdays are the shit." Brittany shoved Santana lightly, in turn Santana shoved her back, but they let things die there.

"I guess I'll just take your word for it then."

"We'll see about that."

"Hey bitch." Rachel jumped at her sister, wrapping her in a headlock.

"Ahh! Fucking goon! Let go." Santana pinched the back or Rachel's tricep, making the other girl jump back with a small yelp.

"Fucking ow!" Rachel glared at Santana and rubbed the back of her arm. Santana glared right back.

"Serves your right. You just fucked my hair up." Rachel flipped Santana the bird.

"Let's go before someone calls the cops for public disturbance." Quinn rolled her eyes, and looped her arm through Rachel's. Santana's eyebrows got lost somewhere near Mars.

"You better shut that mouth before I shut it for you." Rachel cut her sister off just as she was about to make a bitchy comment.

Santana raised her hands in mock surrender, smirk cemented to her lips. And then made the 'zipping my lips' gesture.

"Anyway," Quinn dragged out the word. "Val went to the grocery store, and Will and Susan are at the pizza place with some friends, so we're hanging in your guys' kickass room." Quinn declared, and nobody really argued. It had been a long, hot ass day, not that the company was at all bad though.

"Sounds doable." Rachel said.

"What does that mean?" Brittany was fed up, that had to be the 15th time she'd heard it, and by now it was killing her.

"Maybe I'll tell you sometime." Was all she got in response from Santana.

The girls rounded the corner on to their street, just as the front door to the Porter's opened. A boxer clad man, obviously Dan, was getting his mack on with a blonde haired, long legged woman. Most definitely not a quirky red head. Rachel's jaw dropped and Santana crossed her arms. What the actual fuck? Brittany and Quinn however, just looked slightly peeved. So, obviously not the first time they'd witnessed this kind of thing.

"What the hell?" Santana looked from Brittany to Quinn and back.

"That." Brittany grinded out the word. "Is Holly Holiday, they've had a thing for a few months as far as I know. She works at McKinley, helps teach Spanish and Glee club with her _husband _Will Shuester."

"Damn." Santana nodded in grudging approval. This was a first class affair, that's for sure.

Legs gave Dan a final kiss and then jumped into a black Range Rover, driving down the street, and right past the girls. The windows were tinted pretty dark, so all the girls could make out was the silhouette of a woman, obviously looking at them.

Dan glanced down the street, not noticing them, and then doing the same thing up the street, before heading back inside, closing the door swiftly behind him.

"I'm guessing Lima's shaping up to be a lot more interesting than you thought, huh?" Quinn cocked an eyebrow, hazel eyes sparkling with dark humor.

"You could say that again." Rachel shook her head at Santana, and the four girls made the rest of the walk up the street, into the mansion, and up to the third floor. Yeah, this sleepy little town was turning out to be a little more exciting than planned. But then again, every story worth telling is.

**Review, follow, favorite. Do with that what you will. Until next time. **


	6. Edge of Seventeen

"Happy happy Birthday! You're a douchebag! Happy happy birthday, I want to slap you with a rag!" Santana's eyes shot up to find Rachel Berry bouncing up and down on her bed, singing at the top of her lungs.

"What the fuc-

"Oh good, you're up! Claire's gonna be here in a few hours, Britt and Q are coming over, and Dan and Valarie said to wake your lazy ass up." Rachel turned around to climb off the bed, and Santana reached over and punched her in the back of the knee. Rachel folded like a chair right off the bed.

"What the hell was that for?" The singer picked herself up off the floor.

"It's like 8am, you're lucky I don't beat the shit out of you!" Santana felt like she couldn't be bothered with standing up, so she just rolled out of bed, dropped to the floor with a groan, and rolled her way into the bathroom for a shower.

Rachel just watched her sister with an amused grin. Today was her seventeenth, and she knew that somewhere, way way way down in her heart, the Latina was happy about it. Rachel also knew something else. In the last few days Brittany and Quinn had come over to the Porter house to hang out, all day usually. They'd adopted nicknames, mostly because they hung out too much to want to put effort in anymore, so it was Rach, San, Britt, and Q. Santana liked to come up with more creative nicknames than 'Q', most of which probably would have earned a slap.

"Incoming!" Came from outside the door, and Rachel's head snapped over in time to see two smiling blonde's coming in, presents in hand.

"Hey guys! Satan's in the shower, but hang out for a sec, she should be done any minute." Rachel waved them over to the middle of the room, where the girls had set up a few beanbags they'd found on the second floor.

"What'd you get her?" Brittany looked at the bathroom door, and then whispered to Rachel.

"Same thing as every year." Rachel pulled a locket out of her pocket, and snapped it open. Inside were two small pictures.

"You get her a locket every year?" Brittany was confused.

"Kind of. Her dad gave her this on her 5th birthday, and it had a picture of him in one side and her mom in the other. At the time, and onward to be honest, they were shitty parents, so on her 6th birthday I switched the pictures out with ones of me and Puck. Here we are eleven years later, and I'm doing the same thing." Rachel shrugged and tucked the locket back into her front jean pocket.

"So you just put pictures in that are more recent?" Quinn questioned plopping down on one of the beanbags, Brittany doing the same.

"Bingo was him nameo." Rachel nodded.

"Cute!" Brittany piped up. "I got her a shirt, I didn't really know what to get her, but then I saw it, and I thought it was perfect."

"I just got her one of my favorite albums." Quinn rolled her shoulders in a 'whatddaya gonna do' gesture.

"Yo! Berry, I forgot my shit, coming out." Santana called from the bathroom, in the process of opening the door.

"Put a towel on! Britts and Q are in here!" Rachel yelled, and the door slammed shut again, causing Rachel to chuckle.

"Gross, you've seen her naked?" Quinn scrunched her face up. Brittany just looked red.

"Well yeah. We're both girls, we grew up together. After a while it's nothing you haven't seen before." Rachel justified. "Plus it's not like we parade around in our birthday suits. It takes, what, ten seconds to get a bra and underwear on?" Rachel added to clear things up.

"Ok perves, coming out!" The door opened fully and a cloud of steam followed the Latina out. Brittany lost her jaw on the floor. Wet raven hair cascaded down perfect caramel shoulders, and long legs were clearly visible in the skimpy white towel.

"I think you're gonna kill Britts, so maybe you wanna hurry that shit up." Rachel laughed as Brittany snapped her mouth shut and blushed bright red. Quinn on the other hand was politely disinterested, focusing on her shoes.

"Nothing wrong with looking Pierce, but touching is a different story." Santana smirked, throwing the blonde a wink, before doing a little shimmy and returning to the bathroom with a full set of clothes.

"Fuck you Rach!" Brittany swatted at the boxer who laughed it off. Brittany looked at her sister for backup, but Quinn was doubled over.

"You should've seen your face!" Quinn wiped a few tears from her eyes, trying to calm down.

"Hold the applause!" Santana's voice rang out from behind them. All three girls turned to face her. Santana was in a white _Death Cab For Cutie _tank top, some booty shorts that didn't leave shit to the imagination, and her white low tops.

"Can it Lopez. These two have presents." Rachel pointed between Brittany and Quinn. "And so do I."

Santana rolled her eyes, "I wonder what it is? The anticipation is killing me!"

Rachel flipped her the bird as Quinn tossed her little square package to the Latina who snagged it and plopped down next to Brittany in her own beanbag.

"Well Fabray, didn't expect anything from you." Santana arched her eyebrows and tore the wrapping off in one clean swipe.

"It's one of my favorite albums. So treat her with respect." Quinn warned lightly. _Dookie _ by Greenday was staring up at the Latina. She checked the back and realized she'd heard about half the songs, and more importantly liked them.

"Thanks kid." Santana nodded in appreciation and tossed the present across the room onto her bed.

"My turn!" Brittany was now kind of nervous. Up until this point she hadn't really over thought it, but sitting here, she felt herself wishing she'd gotten something else for Santana. Something more special in some way. "I'm not that great a wrapping stuff, so I put it in a bag." Brittany bit her lip as Santana gave her a genuine smile.

"Don't sweat it; I'm not that great at wrapping stuff either." Santana took the decorative bag with a 'thanks'.

"Amen to that." Rachel muttered, earning a glare from Santana, and a smile from Quinn.

Santana reached into the bag, and to Brittany it took an eternity before she pulled her hand out with the tshirt in it.

"Like, all the shirts you wear have music stuff on them, so I figured you'd like this." Brittany tried a smile that probably looked like a grimace. "Unless you know, you don't like it, then we can burn it or we ca-

"I love it B!" Santana cut off her ramble with a kiss to the cheek. Plump lips were there and gone so fast Brittany thought she'd imagined it. But based off of the 'fuck you' Santana was telling Rachel, she guessed it had actually happened.

"Well what's on it?" Quinn prompted. She was actually curious.

Santana picked the shirt up off her lap and spun it around to face Quinn and Rachel. It was a dark blue thin V-neck with a vintage concert ticket emblazoned on it. The artist being advertised was Stevie Nicks and across the chest read _Edge of Seventeen_.

"Good taste B. I couldn't of picked it better myself." Rachel nodded her approval.

"Right? A girl after my own heart." Brittany blushed again at Santana's words. Did Santana actually like girls, or was this just part of her flirty personality? Brittany hoped to everything holy it was the first option.

"And here's mine!" Rachel announced theatrically, taking the locket back out of her pocket and slinging it to the Latina, who caught it with ease.

"Let's see what I get this year." Santana hunched a little further into the bean bag and snapped the locket open. "How old are you guys in these? Eleven?" Santana pulled her head up to look at Rachel.

"Around there. I had Claire give me those last summer. It's the eleventh year of our little tradition after all. I was going to get you a charm for your bracelet, but I figured I wouldn't find anything cheap enough in NL." Rachel shrugged and Santana nodded in understanding.

"Knock, knock." The scratchy yet cheery voice of Valarie Porter drifted over to them as the door opened, and a mess of red curls peaked around the edge.

"Hey Mrs.- Valarie." Rachel cut herself off, saying Valarie a little too late. They really hadn't been there all that long, and so every time the woman addressed her she would end up calling her Mrs. Valarie.

"What's up Val?" Quinn rescued her.

"I made breakfast! Dan's setting the table, so if you guys want to come downstairs now, we're ready for you." Valarie winked and ducked out the door.

"Sounds doable," Santana muttered and Rachel nodded.

"It's awesome how much privacy she gives you guys. No offense, but if I adopted two rowdy teens, I would probably have security cameras set up." Brittany grinned when Santana shot her a mock hurt look, one hand over her heart.

"That hurts Britt Britt." Brittany shoved Santana in front of her out of the room.

"Thanks Valarie. That was really good." Santana pushed her empty plate away. She and Rachel had quickly gotten over their aversion to food after one full day in the Lima heat. Plus, Valarie was a sweet woman, whereas that foster mom had been stoned about ninety percent of the time.

"I try. Happy seventeenth! We didn't know what to get you, so we figured we'd give you some money to spend on whatever you like!" Dan put his strong arm around Valarie's shoulder and gave Santana a lopsided smile from across the table. Damn, he was good. Valarie slid a card across the table.

Any thoughts of a ten dollar bill was blown clean out of the fucking water as Santana opened the card. Her eyes bulged, and she inhaled so fast she started choking on air.

"Whoa! Take a drink. Are you okay?" Valarie shoved a glass of water towards the baffled Latina. Rachel was looking from the card to her sister and back again, so she scooped it up to see what was so god damn choke-worthy.

"Holy shi-ooot!" Rachel barely saved her own ass. Inside the cheesy card was a credit card, $1000 printed in neat ink on the front of it.

"What?" Quinn looked over Rachel's shoulder at the card, not really getting all the drama. For her 17th she'd gotten a Lamborghini, and then some.

"Is this real?" Santana snatched the little plastic card out of the paper one, and waved it in front of Dan and Valarie.

"Yeah, of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?" Valarie looked puzzled and Dan smirked a little. Fucking asshole.

Santana turned to Rachel, realizing she's the only one in the room with any amount of understanding. Rachel just shook her head at Santana, as if trying to wake up from this crazy dream.

"We thought you could spend it on your school clothes and such, since we obviously don't really know what you would want." Valarie added, she was kind of getting nervous. Did Santana not like the gift?

"I.. I don't even know what to say… Thank you. Thanks so much." Santana coughed awkwardly. Gratitude had never been her thing, especially not towards foster parents.

"Don't worry about it kiddo. It was our pleasure. Happy birthday!" Dan grinned at the Latina, but his phone ringing cut off what Santana wanted to say in return. So freakin' charming.

"It's the office, babe. They need me to go in." Dan gave a small frown, and Valarie gave a sympathetic half smile.

"It's fine honey, I have to head to work too after Mrs. Grace gets here." Valarie was talking to her husband, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed two girls perk up at the familiar name.

"Is she supposed to be here soon?" Santana purposely held all the excitement out of her voice, but it seemed to make her sound all the more eagers somehow.

"In about an hour or so." Valarie nodded. Dan gave a smile from his phone, kissed Valarie on the head and walked towards the door. "I should probably get ready too. You girls just watch TV or hang out by the pool or something!" Valarie scooped up the dishes and dumped them in the sink, waving Santana and Rachel off from helping.

"We'll do that V," Brittany waved to the older woman as she disappeared down the stairs towards her basement bedroom. "So, Santana, are you super excited for this Mrs. Grace lady?" Brittany purred, she wanted the Latina to think her birthday was at least somewhat important, because the day Santana Lopez was born was definitely an important day.

"I guess. Claire's kind of like our on/off mom." Santana shrugged and walked out to the backyard, the three other girls in tow.

Rachel rolled her eyes at the lack of detail. "San means that since we've been in and out of foster care for pretty much as long as we remember, she's pretty much the only consistency we've ever had." Rachel explained in what she felt were some articulate words, and the small frowns of confusion disappeared from blonde faces.

"Well that's… sort of depressing." Quinn deadpans.

A bark of laughter escaped Santana as she sat down on the heating grass, it was still somewhat cool seeing as the sun wasn't at high noon yet. "Ain't that the truth?" The Latina grinned as Rachel leaned against her shoulder with a matching grin in place.

"Well now that you're here, what are you going to do with the money?" Brittany asked, steering the conversation back to a more pleasant topic.

"I don't know really… smokes, send something home for Puck," Santana shrugged and then turned to Rachel with a rueful smile. "Give Claire a little something for a down payment so she can sell her piece of shit."

"Ha! The day she sells that car is the day hell freezes over." Rachel laments with the same rueful grin.

"Well whatever you decide to do with it, make if count. Otherwise you'll just have to wait until Christmas." Quinn smirked.

"I wouldn't worry about it blondie, I don't think I could spend this much money by Christmas even if I tried." Santana smirked right back.

"And I'm a Jew so no worries there." Rachel piped in.

"You're a fallen Jew Berry, those are two different things." Santana scoffed, shoving Rachel's shoulder lightly.

"Call it what you will, Hanukkah is the shit though. Even Puck thinks so!"

"Yeah well you and Puckerman are fucking cracked then. But I don't really see the difference, we never got shit for the holidays anyway."

"You guys ne-

The doorbell rang obnoxiously loud, cutting off Brittany's prying question. Santana and Rachel were on their feet before Quinn could even help Brittany up.

"Yo! That's Claire man!" Santana punched Rachel's shoulder in excitement, and the slightly smaller girl just shook it off, as they headed back inside, and through the kitchen, right to the front door.

The door opened to a young man, rather that Claire Grace. He had tan skin, and a white smile. That smile had a cigarette dangling from its lips. He was probably five or six inches taller that Santana, and his ripped jeans, beat up Nikes, and white wife beater all looked very familiar. The thing that really made Santana grin though, was the signature Mohawk sitting on top of the kid's head.

"Happy 17th sis." Noah Puckerman grinned, and flicked the cigarette on to the ground stomping it out.

A beat of silence passed where Brittany and Quinn got a good look at the kid, Santana and Rachel blinked a few times to make sure it was real, and the infamous sound of Claire Grace shutting her squeaky car door was established. And then shit hit the fan.

"Ahhh! Look at this kid! Look at him!" Santana and Rachel jumped out of the front door, grabbing on to as much of their brother as then could. Santana had him in headlock, pulling lightly at the landing strip on his head. Rachel was throwing small punches here and there, as the boy tried to mockingly throw his sisters' off of him.

"I'm here too you know!" A familiar voice came from behind the three. Santana's head snapped up, and Rachel was already in the driveway, on her way to giving Claire grace a hug.

"Happy birthday San!" Claire called up. The Latina took a few steps in her direction, but was stopped by strong arms around her waist, pulling her back into a tight hug. "If you couldn't tell, he missed you." Claire rolled her eyes and made her way up the stairs, touching the Latina's cheek, as Puck swung her lightly back and forth.

Someone cleared their throat and everyone looked towards two slightly awkward looking blondes.

"Oh yeah, sorry I'm being a fuck up!" Santana shook her head to clear it. "Y'all this is Brittany Pierce and Quinn Fabray. Me and Rach have been hanging around with em." Santana was excited, so her slang was pretty thick, and her grammar pretty bad.

"It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Claire Grace, these kids' social worker." Claire stuck her hand out, and Brittany and Quinn shook with friendly smiles.

"And this kid here, this is Noah Puckerman, feel free to call him Puck." Santana nodded her head back into her brother's shoulder, and Puck gave each blonde a charming grin. "He's kind of a horn dog though, so don't worry about his innuendos, the kid's harmless." Puck made a noise of indignation, and Claire, Rachel and Santana snorted in laughter.

"Don't listen to her. She's just pissy because somebody stole her ruby slippers." Puck joked, getting a large smile from Brittany. That was a good analogy for Santana's frosty behavior, even if Puck had just called her a witch.

"Well why don't we take this party inside, huh?" Claire smiled warmly at everyone, and the group moved back through the door.

"Fuck." Puck drew out the word, and why shouldn't he? Santana and Rachel had done the same thing when they had first entered the house. "Holy shit! I get to live here?!" Puck spun around to face Claire, and a second later so did Santana and Rachel.

"Wait what?! The kid is gonna live here?!" Rachel shouted, a warm, whole feeling creeping through her.

"That's my birthday present to you Santana! Valarie and Dan were going to surprise you last night, but my car was having problems (Santana snorted at that) so we just came at the regular time." Claire smiled happily as the siblings all grinned at each other, Quinn and Brittany just watching the scene unfold with some amusement.

"And I didn't get you jack shit, because I'm already amazing enough." Puck threw in and Rachel pinched his left tricep, making the boy jump a few feet in the air. Rachel looked over to find Quinn grinning at her.

Santana ignored Puck, and threw a jab at Claire instead. "Imagine that? Your piece of shit couldn't make the trip huh?" Santana couldn't resist, and everyone laughed when Santana got a good natured smack on the back of the head from Claire.

"Wait so you're staying? Like, adoption papers kind of staying?" Rachel turned to Puck, hope in her voice.

"True shit sis." Puck grinned. "Would've been here sooner, but my PO was being a fucknut." Puck shrugged and Santana ruffled his mohawk fondly.

"Language, Noah!" Claire huffed a sigh, the four girls laughed and Puck kissed Claire on the cheek.

"Sorry Claire, won't happen again, I promise." Puck winked as Santana led him into the backyard by the hand.

"If I had a dime for every time you kids promised me something-

"You'd have enough money to fix up your piece of shit!" Santana interjected, getting snickers from the others.

"That mouth get you in trouble yet?" Claire snapped at Santana with a small smile.

"What are you talking about? I've been an angle!" Santana stated with faux sincerity coating her raspy voice.

"I call bullshit!" Puck piped up, jumping away from Santana's right hook.

"Would you two stop before someone gets hurt?" Claire gave a stern look that melted into a smile as they stopped horsing around.

The sun was high in the sky by now, it was around three. Valarie had said she would be back by dinner, and Dan hadn't said anything about when he was expected back. The shock of seeing each other again was starting to wear off, and the genuine smiles on all the faces served to make everybody feel even that much better.

Puck turned to the blondes, Santana was admittedly surprised he hadn't already tried something. "Hey girls," He gave his most charming half smile. "What's up?" Puck was certainly charming to some girls, but Brittany and Quinn were giving him smiles as if they thought he was 'little brother' cute, rather than 'stud' cute.

"Just hanging out for San's 17th. But you're the famous little brother, huh?" Brittany offered in a friendly tone.

"Oh trust me babe, there's nothing little about m-

"Shut the fuck up perve!" Santana pulled Puck's ear down to her height, making the boy squirm.

"Fucking ow! Jesus San let go." Puck grabbed at his ear when she released him, a small rage behind her eyes. Since when did Santana care when he hit on girls?

"For the love of god, keep your hands to yourselves!" Claire yelled in frustration, Rachel just laughed.

"Sooooo…" Quinn stepped towards the two, for the most part, strangers. "Have you guys known each other long?" She asked, looking from Claire to Puck to Rachel and finally to an ever scowling Santana.

Claire started to answer Quinn and Brittany took that as an opportunity to sneak up on Santana. "You know, you shouldn't scowl on your birthday." She breathed lightly into Santana's ear. The Latina stiffened significantly, but didn't take her eyes of Quinn and Claire. Rachel and Puck had stepped to the side to have their own conversation.

"It's just another day full of surprises, but good ones this time I guess." Santana shrugged, she wasn't whispering back, but her voice was too low to be her normal volume.

"So why the scowling?" Brittany asked, not letting Santana elude her.

"Here's the thing Pierce. Puck hits on anything with a vagina and pulse, so steer clear huh?" Santana laid out the facts in one breath, as if it had taken a great effort to say them.

"What do you care if he hits on me? He's harmless right?" Brittany retorted quickly. This was a rare window when Santana showed concern for anybody besides herself.

"Just don't pay attention to him okay? And don't ask why. You'll get hurt. How about we call that my birthday wish?" Santana turned to face Brittany for the first time, dark eyes, connection with lightning ones.

"Pretty selfless wish." Brittany challenged.

"Not really." Santana rose to the bait, their eyes still locked. Brittany's heart sped up.

"Well-

"Yo, Snix!" Puck called from over by the pool, snapping to girls back to present time. "You coming?" Neither of them had noticed everyone heading inside. "That Valarie chick just got here, she brought pizza!" Puck disappeared inside at a nod from Santana.

"C'mon. Or else those bastards will eat all the food." Santana thought about saying more, she even got as far as opening her mouth, but no words made it past plump lips. So, instead of searching for words that wouldn't come, she just held out her hand, hoping that was enough.

"Sounds doabled." Brittany smirked as Santana raised an eyebrow. Brittany laced their fingers together, knowing she was probably overthinking it, as Santana led them inside. Santana let go of her hand the second they were into the dining room, grabbing a seat in between Rachel and Puck. Brittany took her seat in between Quinn and Valarie, right where she was expected, but maybe… not where she belonged.

** Sorry about the small wait. I have some big tests this week and next so I'm studying my ass off. But don't you worry, I'll be back before you know it, in two shakes of a lamb's tale, lickity split… take your pick. Review, follow, favorite, stuff like that. Back in a few.**


	7. Looking Up

**Ok, so this is kind of a filler chapter. Not a lot of romance and all that jazz, but it needed to be done, so have patience, because I promise there will be some in the next chapter. With that.. carry on.**

Santana's POV

It's a funny thing. Good intentions, I mean. I used to try so hard for other people, because I wanted them to notice. To notice the good, all the things that went right, everything that I've ever been proud of. But it turns out, the only people that ever saw those things was my mother on her few good days, and Rachel and Puck every day. So I learned pretty quickly that those are the people that count. The ones that are always going to be there because they know that no matter how many times they fuck up, you would be there for them, so they will be there for you. For a long time I didn't know what to call that type of function. But now I know what it is, it's a family.

* * *

"Pst! San!" My eyes opened blearily to be met with relative darkness. Blinking a few times I opened my eyes a little more at the noise, and found that I actually was surrounded by the soft blue light of morning, before sunrise.

"What?" I grunted and rolled onto my stomach. "Where's the fire?" I mumbled into my cherry scented pillow.

"Get up you lazy bitch." I barely had time to process the words before something large and heavy landed on top of me. Fucking Puck!

"Geidhfumdofom!" My face was pressed into the pillow so tightly, I was probably being smothered.

"What?" Puck rolled to the side of me, onto my bed. "What did you say?" He asked, still in a whisper.

"I said get the fuck off of me!" I hissed at him, slapping his chest with a flat hand. "Why the fuck are we whispering?" The longer I'm awake the more things are starting to process.

"It's Rach's 17th today dipshit!" He rolls up onto his elbow to face me.

"You're the dipshit! Why can't people sleep in to a normal time around here? Is that so much to ask? I might as well wish for world peace." I rolled up on to my elbow, venting to Puck.

"If you wished for world peace you wouldn't get to be that fabulous narcissist you are anymore. You might actually have to give a shit about other people." Puck knocked the arm that was holding my head up, and I slammed back into the pillows.

"Since when the fuck do you ever use big words?!"

"Since when do you care?!"

"That's such fuc-

My retort was cut off by the sound of Rachel groaning loudly from across the room. What the hell? Who makes that noise? It sounded like a whale in heat.

"Would you two shut the fuck up?!" Her voice spit through the rapidly approaching light. I squinted across the room, and I could make out her silhouette. She was burying her head under the pillows.

"Oh no you don't sis!" Puck was out of my bed in a flash, and the fact that he was only wearing boxers was brought to my attention. Fucking fantastic. Now I'll need a shot of some sort and I'll probably have to burn these sheets. The kid was a sex shark, who knows what he'd been up to when we were gone. When the cat's away, the mice will play.

"Leave me alone Fuckerman!" Rachel huffed as he jumped on to her.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dea-

"Jesus Christ!" Rachel yelled, rolling off of the bed. "I'm up! I'm up. Now shut the hell up!" Rachel was sprawled out on the floor rubbing her temples. It was a weird site for me. Puck was in Rachel's bed in nothing but boxers, Rachel was on the floor, and I was wrapped up like a caterpillar in my duvet. We could definitely be our own trashy reality show. I decided to put my two cents in, because messing with Berry is always fun.

"Isn't Quinny coming over today?" I asked innocently, and watched her eyes snap open. "She's going to be here in a few hours actually. And you look like shit." I couldn't help but add.

"Fuck you Santana. Anybody ever tell you you're a bitch?" Rachel huffed and grumbled, but picked her hobbit ass up off the floor anyway.

"Actually yeah, I already covered that one today." Puckerman piped up from the bed, he was rolling around in Rachel's sheets. Why? I don't know…

"Jesus, Puck! Go back to your room. Go shower, and put some clothes on for god's sake!" Rachel rolled her eyes when he popped up off her bed and kissed her cheek with his Puckerman grin in place. He walked over to me, and I sighed in resignation. No use fighting it, Puck was a cheeky son of a bitch whenever he wanted to be.

"See you in a few girls!" He was out the door, and it had closed behind him.

"Do we ever lock that thing?!" I yelled over to Rachel who was in the bathroom by now.

"You're the one that taught him how to pick locks!" Rachel replied in disbelief. Yeah, so I'm kind of slow when tired, fucking sue me.

"Just take your shower hobbit!" I settled on yelling, getting up to take my own.

* * *

A few hours after my rude awakening, we were downstairs with the Porters', waiting for Brittany and Quinn to show. They gave Berry a credit card like mine with the same amount of money on it, and once again we all just shook our heads in disbelief. Puck gave Rach some of his art, the kid was actually a really good painter, and I was waiting until a little bit later to give Rachel my gift.

"I'll get it!" Valarie trilled when the doorbell went off.

"So, are you five spending the day in town?" Dan cleared his throat awkwardly. The guy had balls. Rachel and I had been treating him like scum of the earth for the last few weeks, and he was still trying.

"Yeah bro, something like that." Puck answered with a shrug. When we told the kid that Dan was a cheater, he started up his own little game of disrespect. It's safe to say us kids hate cheats.

"Look who's here!" Valarie bounced back into the room with two girls hot on her heels. I glanced right over the first one, and settled on staring at the second one. Brittany was hot. I'd stopped trying to deny that after that day at the park, and I don't really know why. This girl was sexy, funny, quirky, and more than a little adventurous. I didn't exactly hurt that I'd caught her leering a bunch of times either. But that's all she was. Hot. As long as there was no emotions like, cute and sweet and shit like that I was in the clear.

"Hey Quinn!" Rachel broke me out of my stupor. "Hey Britt! You guys ready to head out?"

"Sure thing Rach, but we got your presents first." Brittany held up a decorative bag, and Quinn held out something small that was wrapped.

"I'll take those!" Puck swooped in, grabbing the presents out of their hands. "She can open them later, but we're going to the Northside." Puck scampered up the stairs, presents in hand, before anybody had the chance to object.

"Well everybody, we're heading off. I'm not back until late, and Dan has a meeting early tomorrow, so he's spending the night at the office. You kids just order pizza from Unique's okay?" Valarie waited for us to nod before her and Dan made their way down to the basement.

I turned to Brittany and Quinn, but mostly to Brittany. "Sorry about Puck. He's a douche at the best of times." I rolled my eyes and got a giggle from Brittany.

"Yeah, cause you're soooo much better?" Rachel drawled and I launched my fork at her. The bitch caught it.

"Fuck you Frodo, at least I'm not in line for employment at the chocolate factory." I spit back at her. Fucking Valarie was watching "Willy Wonka" the other night, and now that shit was stuck in my head.

"You really wanna st-

"Hey!" Quinn jumped in between us as Rachel stepped toward me and I stood up to meet her. "Puck's going to be back any minute and then we can head out. So let's everybody just cool off." Quinn turned to Rachel and tugged her by the elbow, getting some distance between us.

"The party's back!" Puck called bounding down the stairs.

"More like the circus." I mumbled when he tripped over the last step, pulling a small giggle from Brittany.

"What'd I miss?" He asked when he noticed Rachel and I were still glaring slightly at each other, and I guess Quinn took it upon herself to decide that we were being petty.

"Nothing, let's just get going. If we want to catch the movie, we have to leave like now. Plus it's the last few days of summer, and Rach's 17th. We gotta live it up!" Quinn had been spending a lot of time with us, and her last sentence had been a pretty pathetic imitation of a Queens accent.

"Don't even Fabray. So many jokes so little time." I winked at her and Quinn gave me a dirty look.

"Actually San, that wasn't that bad." Puck shot me a confused look, and his lips tilted down in thought.

"Why I try with you people, I'll never know." I exhaled angrily, marching ahead of everyone and out the door. I was tempted to throw a snotty comment behind me when I heard everyone chuckling, but some things aren't worth dignifying.

* * *

"The ending was shit." I remarked the second we were out of the theater and out into the hot Lima sun.

"I liked it!" Brittany, Rachel and Puck all said in unison. By unspoken consent we turned to Quinn. She looked at her shoes.

"I'm sorry, what was that Fabray?" I snarked when her lips moved, but no intelligible words came out.

"I said, I agree with Santana." She pushed the words out, like it was with great effort.

"And today's weather forecast; a cold day in hell." Rachel mocked us, and Brittany and Puck laughed along with her.

"No seriously guys. As much as it hurts to say; Lopez is right. The ending was shit. I mean, what was the point of them falling in love if he ends up not remembering who she is anyway? Like, they take you through this entire love story, making you buy into the bullshit of romance that is eternal love, and then in the last ten minutes he loses his memory and she just has to be okay with it? I call bullshit."

"As much of a mouthful as that was, it's true. Bull. Shit." I echoed, and Quinn and I shared a smile. What the hell was happening to me? Smiles with Brittany were one thing, she was funny as shit. Fabray on the other hand, irritates the hell out of me 90% of the time.

"Well I liked it." Brittany pouted at me. It was kinda cute. Wait, what? "It's supposed to show that she cares about his happiness, and it will make his life a whole lot easier if he doesn't remember her. She only wants the best for him, even if it hurts her." Brittany pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, maybe Britts, but rom coms are supposed to make both people feel good at the end. This movie makes him feel on top of the world, and makes her feel like shit. There's no happily ever after." Quinn argues. At this point I was kind of over it, if I thought I was right, than I would be right. Just like that.

"But that's not how love works Quinn. Happily ever after isn't real, but sacrifices are." Rachel piped up, and Puck and Brittany nodded in agreement.

"As much fun as that wasn't, you two are taking Puck somewhere for the next three hours, because Rach and I have some birthday shit to get done." I tugged Rachel over to me, and Puck was on the verge of grinning. "You," I pointed at him. "Behave yourself, Quinn and Britts reserve the rights to smack the shit out of you if you get out of line." Rachel nodded and smacked the back of his head in demonstration. Oh yeah, that's why I tolerate her.

"See y'all in a few!" Rachel called over her shoulder as we crossed the street, and the other three kept making their way up towards an ice cream shop.

"So," Rachel turned to me. "It's something illegal isn't it?" She raised her eyebrows at me. The hobbit didn't disapprove, she was just curious. Eager too.

"Nothing's illegal when you have enough money Rach. You gotta remember that kid." I winked at her, and she rolled her eyes as we ducked into an alley. This was the perfect time to get this present. I've wanted to for a few years now, and by the looks of the cards we'd just been dealt, things were changing for us. It was the best time to do it.

* * *

"Did you have a good birthday Rach?" Quinn asked as we all lounged around Rach and I's room eating pizza. Some Amy Winehouse song was playing quietly in the background. I actually felt relaxed, not completely, but this was so much better than anything I'd ever been around before.

"I did. Best birthday in a long time actually." Rachel glanced at me, and I couldn't help but give her a small smile. Quinn however, was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Apparently, she really liked that answer.

"Well good, cause now you hafta open these lovely ladies' presents, and then it's tradition time!" Puck shouted, grabbing another slice of Hawaiian.

"Tradition?" Brittany perked up, she'd been picking the pineapples off and eating them one by one. Weird, but kind of endearing. Huh?

"Uh yeah, every year you gotta tell a story about something that you really remember about the year. You know, something that sticks out." I explained with a shrug.

"You didn't do that on your birthday." She pointed out.

"Yeah well, I had a pretty shitty year." I thought back over all the things that had happened. My mom had relapsed, several times. My dad had been arrested again for violating his parole, and I'd been shipped off to Lima, Ohio. Which at the time had been a pretty bad deal, but after being here, maybe it would turn out a little better.

"Anyway," Puck intervened before Brittany could ask another question or I lost my patience. "Let's see what you got sis." Puck stood up and grabbed the two presents off the counter of our 'kitchen'.

"I'm up first!" Brittany clapped, seeming to be over her little Q and A with Santana. "Mine's in the bag."

"Sure thing Britts." Rachel winked at her good naturedly and reached for the flamboyant party bag.

"So, San told me that you like to box, and my dad had these in the den. I figured he wouldn't miss them too much." Brittany grinned when Rachel pulled out a few VHS tapes, marked with different fights and the years.

"Holy hell Britt! Thanks kid, this is great." Rachel beamed at a proud looking Brittany, and handed the tapes to Puck who was probably more excited than Rachel.

"Sweet! Sis, we're so watching these later." Puck bounced on the spot. It was almost irritating.

"Well, I didn't really know what you would want, so I thought of something vintage, because you can never go wrong with classics." Quinn was fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Pathetic.

"Barbara Streisand. The Complete Collection." Rachel read off of the box in her hands. "Oh. My. God."

My eyes widened in recognition. "Oh fuck no." Puck and I whispered in horror at the same time.

"I LOVE BARBARA STREISAND!" Rachel shouted. I covered my ears and groaned. Jesus Christ, when we were nine Rachel won a free Barbara Streisand CD, and she was so excited by it, she played the thing night and day for months. I couldn't deal then, and I certainly can't now.

"That's awesome then!" Quinn was grinning like she'd won the lotto, and Rachel pulled her in for a very quick hug. I haven't really shown affection ever in my life, but when Rachel gets happy, she turns into a hugger.

"You are a goddess." She said to Quinn, evoking an eye roll from me. "Seriously though, you did good. Thanks so much Q." Rachel grinned toothily when Quinn blushed. Wait, what the hell was that about? "Definitely the best birthday ever." Rachel went over to the stereo and popped in one of the CDs. I groaned; fuck my life.

* * *

William McKinley High School is probably the last place on earth I would rather be standing in front of at this moment in time. It's not because I'm nervous, don't get me wrong. Why? Because Santana Lopez doesn't get nervous. It's because I hate high school. I hate it with a passion. Where I'm from it was always gang against gang, jock against nerd, thug against the hard worker. And by the looks of this place, it's no different here.

Rach, Puck and I are standing on the curb in front of the school. Puck's in baggy jeans and a white Guns N' Roses tank top. Rachel's rockin a pair of black booty shorts, some white Chucks, a batman tank, and hair in a ponytale. And then there's me. Hot as ever. My hair's down and natural, falling in long curls. I've got on some white wash cutoff booty shorts, red Supras, and a thin red racer back tank. The band being advertised today is Red Hot Chile Peppers. It's safe to say we all look pretty fucking badass.

"Talk about social classes." Rachel muttered in my ear, and I nodded in agreement. To our left and by the doors was a bunch of preppy girls and guys in cheerleader outfits and letterman jackets. Also to the right, but way over by the parking lot, was the nerds and geeks. Some were poorer than others, that was obvious from here.

"Yo! Look at that." Puck nudged my shoulder and tilted his chin to the left. This is what I'd been waiting for. Closer to the doors, but not at all close to the jocks, was a group of kids that definitely looked like hoods. Saggy pants, tank tops, snap backs, the works. I glanced over them and recognized the blonde kid I'd seen in the restaurant all those weeks ago. There were six of them. A black girl, fish lips, a tall awkward boy, some kid with glasses, a tall skinny brunette, and a kid with a shit load of gel in his black hair. Seriously, it looks like he swam here.

"Now we're talkin. If I didn't know better I'd say they were from the Bronx or something." I could hear the grin in Rachel's voice.

"Yeah, but let's not jump just yet. They could be fucking wacks for all we know." I warned. So they looked promising, what's new?

"Hey guys!" A melodic voice bounced up from behind us.

"Dayum!" Puck let out a wolf whistle as we turned around, and it took a whole hell of a lot of effort to keep my jaw from dropping. Brittany and Quinn were standing in front of us in probably the most sinfully short skirts ever made. It was fantastic.

"Pig," Rachel pulled lightly on Puck's mohawk. "What's up guys? No rest for the wicked huh?" Rachel gestured towards the uniforms; Quinn had the decency to blush.

"Yeah, if coach Sylvester had her way we'd never be able to take them off." Quinn scoffed, and Brittany just nodded her head in agreement.

"Anyway, we came over here to see if you guys needed help with class schedules. And, you know, to see if we have any of the same classes." Brittany shrugged lamely and looked relieved when I dug my class schedule out of my back pocket. Apparently in the life of an elite you get your schedules mailed to you a few days before school.

"Awesome," Brittany grinned, but it dropped the second she scanned the sheet. "We only have two classes together. Spanish and free period." She pouted, but I just smirked. Those were probably the two best classes to have with Brittany. "Rach, hand me yours." Rachel forked it over. "Lucky. You have four classes with Quinn, and one with me." Brittany smiled handing it back.

"Yeah, and Suckerman over here has zip classes with any of us because he's the baby." I made my voice a few pitches higher and pinched his cheeks degradingly. Man, I really am a bitch. Oh well, sue me.

"Looks like we have five classes together Lopez. Dear lord give me strength." Quinn muttered, handing me back my schedule.

"Maybe somebody up there really does have it out for me." I mused, earning an eye roll from Quinn and a chuckle from everybody else.

"It looks like me, San and Q have first period together. So you'll have to show us where Mrs. Hagberg's English is." Rachel turned to Quinn, who nodded happily. Brittany jumped in with something about how the art teacher steals stuff from the still life closet, but I kind of tuned it out when I saw Puck had lost interest in the conversation.

"Keep makin' that face and it'll get stuck like that." I bumped my shoulder into his, and he snapped out of his staring. I followed his line of sight, and saw that it was focused on the tall brunette in the group of South Lima kids.

"Just wondering how things are gonna turn out here." He shrugged at his explanation. "I mean, this looks like the kind of place we could get into trouble."

"What do you mean by that?" I scrunched my brows in confusion. What the hell was he talking about? It was just a school.

"No man, like what if-

"Yeah, what if you get in a few fights, get caught with weed, or vandalize something Puckerman?" I dawned on me, so I just cut him off. "And what if the world ends tomorrow?" I questioned. "We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it." I amended.

"More like burn that bridge when we get to it. Because if Snix has any time out of her cage around here, we know something's going up in flames." Puck grinned and dug his elbow into my ribs, getting a small grin out of me before I pulled on his ear.

Just then the bell rang for the start of the first day of school. The first day of senior year. This was kind of a big deal for me. I mean, I would be the first Lopez to graduate. No pressure. I wished Puck good luck when we entered the building as he went off in search of his locker. The building was cleaned up nicely. Red lockers shined, and white tiles glared up at us; not one crack in them.

* * *

So it turns out first period was English is pretty much my thing. Good, I've never been a morning person, and English is an easy class for me, so cheers to that. On the downside however, I sit next to Fabray and Rachel and some black kid with a letterman jacket and a weight problem. I can't decide where he's from. He wears the jacket like he's royalty, but he sags his pants and wears rugged boots. Puck used to wear those all the time. The back of his red and white letterman read, 'A. Adams.' I turned back to the front of the class as he turned to look at me.

"Lookin' at something tiny?" He addressed me. Not really with malice, but I could hear a threat in there somewhere.

"Oh sorry, you talkin' to me?" I picked up on his voice, it definitely wasn't North Lima born and bred; so I thought I'd go tit for tat.

"You ain't from here." He pointed out obviously. Ah, the pressures of having an IQ lower than fifty.

"You're one to talk." He looked like he was about to reply with something angry, but the teacher walked between our desks, effectively cutting off the conversation; or lack of. He didn't speak to me for the rest of the period. Maybe he wasn't as stupid as he looked.

Second period math and third period history passed by relatively quickly, considering I wasn't paying attention to a word the teachers were saying. I had third period with Quinn, and plans to meet up with Rachel and Puck at lunch.

The McKinley High lunchroom was buzzing when I walked in with Rach and Puck. The jocks were in the corner macking on their respective cheerleaders, who giggled and picked at their few salad leaves. The South Lima kids were in the other corner playing with lighters, throwing pieces of food at each other, laughing, and building what looked like a house of cards.

"Yo, we're sitting with South Lima guys. I have this dude in like all my classes. His name's Finn, he's pretty cool. He was a bro and told me to come hang at lunch." Puck put an arm around Rach and I, steering us towards the respective table.

Upon closer inspection the kids all looked pretty cool. No way in hell I'd say that to them though. The black chick and vagina lips were all hugged up in the corner. Specs was playing with a silver lighter while the tall brunette was reading a book. Michael Phelps was on the far side by who I assumed was Finn straightening out a bowtie and checking his hair in a mirror. My gaydar was bouncing around like a pinball machine.

"Hey, Finn! What's up man?" Puck called out as we got up to the edge of the table. Everyone looked up at us. A few glances were curious, a nod of acknowledgement from trouty, and a couple confused.

"Oh hey bro!" Finn stood up. The kid was like seventeen feet tall, and by the looks of him very uncoordinated. "Guys, this is Puck. We have a shit ton of classes together. He's cool." Finn scooted to the side, making enough room for the three of us to sit.

"These are the chicks I told you guys about. The ones from Breadstix." Blondie piped up. What was his name again? Saul? Simon? Sean? Ah, who gives a fuck.

"Oh, yeah. He said you was cool. I'm Mercedes Jones; Sam's girlfriend." The black chick next to him nodded at me, and I nodded back. I looked over at Rachel who was sizing us greased lightning and his head full of gel.

"Yeah!" Finn jumped back into the conversation. "Uh, this is Artie Abrams." He nodded to the kid with the glasses and the lighter. "This is my sister Marley Rose-Hudson," He kissed the skinny brunette on top of the head goofily. "That's Blaine Anderson," Gel McGee grinned at us. "And then you just met 'Cedes and Sam Evans." Finn finished lamely.

"It's nice to meet y'all." I spoke up. These guys seemed chill enough. "I'm Santana. Feel free to call me Satan or Snix though." Mercedes smirked at me. Ah, there's a cool kid. "This is Rachel, and the kid over here with the squirrel on his head, is Puck. But y'all already knew that."

"Where y'all from?" Specs flipped his lighter closed, and everyone looked my way. But Rach snagged the question before I could.

"New York. Queens born and raised." She said proudly. Atta girl. "Southside if you wanna get down to technicalities."

"Damn girl. That's badass!" Mercedes wolf whistled, and everybody gave small grins, Marley and Sam laughing.

"Foster care kicked us out west, so we ended up in Lima. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say y'all are South Lima kids?" I grinned when they all nodded fiercely. These kids were proud. Gotta love that in people.

"And y'all are obviously up North, so who're the rents you landed?" Sam questioned. Normally I would be irritated with an interrogation, but I actually kind of felt at home with everybody slouching and relaxed.

"Dan and Valarie Porter." Puck piped up. "You guys know 'em?" Puck followed as everyone shared a look.

"Uh yeah, we know Dan Porter. That guy's a douche. No disrespect or anything, but he's a fuck." Specs answered.

"Yeah, no we know. A few weeks ago we saw him with some blonde chi-

"Holly Holiday." Marley spoke for the first time. She had a pretty voice, and Puck's eyes immediately focused on her. Uh oh, I know what that means. "Yeah, she's from Southside. She teaches art here. She's married to the Spanish teacher Will, and they teach glee club together." So apparently this was old news to everyone.

"No shit? She's married too? Man, maybe this place ain't that different from home after all." Rachel chuckled and everybody else cracked smiles at the dark joke. So I guess they grew up in those kind of houses too.

"Yeah, for like a year now. Juicy huh?" Mercedes smiled at me, and I found myself smiling back. I liked this girl already.

"So what grades are y'all in?" Artie changed the subject before we could all fade into silence.

"Uh, Puck's a Sophomore, and Rach and I are Seniors." I cleared my throat and answered.

"Yeah, Rachel was in our second period." Mercedes and Artie nodded.

"I had first period with Puck and Finn." Marley added to the party.

"Maybe we'll have a few classes together girl." Mercedes directed at me, and I nodded in agreement.

"Hey, speaking of doing stuff together," Puck interjected. "These guys are in glee club. It'd be cool if we joined up." Puck shrugged his shoulders, and Rachel and I looked at each other. I raised my eye brows in question and she nodded.

"Sounds doable." Rachel grinned when the South Lima kids let out a few whistles and clapped. They were down with it, the day was half over, and I had my last two classes of the day with Brittany. Right now you could say I'm feeling pretty lucky.

* * *

"Santana! Hey, I didn't see you at lunch!" Brittany called my name, coming up to my locker at the start of sixth period; study hall.

"What's up kid? Uh, yeah, we were hanging out with the South Lima kids." I explained, closing my locker and sinking against it down to the floor, almost all the kids were in their classrooms.

"What? Why were you hanging around them? Santana they're trouble!" Brittany said, sinking down next to me.

"What the hell are you talkin' about? They're pretty damn chill B. And if you hadn't noticed, maybe you should take a step back and look who you're talkin' to." I scrunched my brows together. Where did she get off telling me who I could and couldn't hang with?

"We're talking about the same people here right? Jessie St. James, Azimio Adams, Dave Karofsky?" Brittany rattled off names that I didn't recognize at all.

"I guess we ain't on the same page. I was talking about Sam Evans, Mercedes Jones, Finn, Marley, Artie, Blaine… You look confused." I trailed off. Her expression had gone from angry to puzzled.

"I… Well…" She didn't really have the words, and at this point we were sitting in a relatively empty hallway, a few feet away from each other physically, and a million miles away from each other mentally.

"Spit it out Brittany!" I spit after a few seconds of watching her struggle to find the words.

"They're not who I thought you meant. Those guys are the misfits from South Lima. They're still criminals, but not like Jesse and his gang." Brittany shivered a little bit, and I looked around out of habit. The good die young where I'm from.

"Nope, just a bunch of misfits." I clarified, turning to my shirt pocket and taking out the card I always kept on me. It was the ace of hearts. I'd totally forgotten about it in all the chaos of the last two months, but it was a private joke between my dad and I, and I always kept it on me. For as long as I can remember it's been in one for my pockets at all times.

"Weird. Oh, no I guess it's not. I totally forgot! Jesse's thugs always come the first day, but he doesn't. They're pretty much just like the rest of us without Jesse around, but when he is around, it's better to keep your head down." She leaned her head against the lockers and watched as I threw the card up and down, catching it every time.

"Well, he sounds like my uncle Tito." I laughed quietly. My uncle Tito was a dipshit, and since we were a Spanish family I always called him Tio Tito. I have no idea why, but that's always been so damn funny to me.

"Who's your uncle Tito?" Brittany asked curiously. Shit. I'd been pretty careful about not letting her know too much about me this past month. I had to choose my words carefully here. Oh well, I was bound to fuck up sometime. I always do.

"That's probably a story for another time. But to make a long story short; he's my dad's brother." I stood up, seeing as sixth period was almost over.

"And where is uncle Tito now?" Brittany asked. I cringed inwardly, this girl just couldn't leave well enough alone.

"He's dead." I said bluntly, seeing Brittany's mouth drop open slightly as I turned on my heel and headed down the hallway. The bell rang before I was two steps away. "Come on," I called over my shoulder. "We're going to be late for Spanish."

* * *

Well if Spanish wasn't a waste of my time then I don't know what would be. The teacher, Mr. Sheuster, was a complete dipshit when it came to my language. He tried to introduce himself in Spanish, and the best part of the class was when it ended. When I walked into the room I grinned at a girl in the back. It was Mercedes. Maybe this class would be bearable. Between Mercedes and Brittany, I think I could manage.

Meeting up for the walk home, I realized this was actually real. We were students at McKinley High, and for better or worse this was how it was going to be.

"So, I'm thinking of joining the football team. Tryouts are in a few weeks, and Finn is going out for the team too." Puck proposed when we turned onto the Porters' street.

"Slow down kid." Rachel chuckled at Puck's excitement. "You want to do glee club and join the football team? I wonder who you think is going to keep your grades up for you." Rachel was in big sister mode, but apparently Puck had thought this one out.

"San can tutor me! That way I can keep at least a half decent grade point, and do some shit that I think would be cool this year." Puck turned to me, and I just nodded at him. As annoying as that fucker was at times, he was my brother. Family comes first.

"I don't know Noah…" Rachel was thinking about it. She turned to me, "What do you think San? Yeah or Nah?"

I pursed my lips in mock thought. Puck literally hopped on the spot. Man, he's just too easy.

"Sounds doable," I started but was cut off by Puck's whoop of joy. "BUT!" I continued. "If I'm going to spend time tutoring your ass, I better see results. As in no less than a 3.5; are we clear?" I looked him right in the eyes, and Puck just huffed but nodded in agreement.

"Where are Britt and Q anyway?" Rachel asked as she unlocked the front door.

"Cheerios practice. I hear their coach is a real bitch." Puck answered, pushing in front of us and going to raid the fridge, making himself a turkey sandwich.

"Yeah, B says she's a total hard ass. So I guess that explains practice on the first day." I shrugged, stealing a piece of turkey off the sandwich an indignant Puck.

"Remind me to never be a cheerleader." Rachel grumbled. All of us froze. I looked at Puck and then we looked at Rachel, before we burst out laughing. I was almost in tears, and Puck was practically choking on his sandwich.

"The day you're a cheerleader is the day I become a nun!" I shouted a Rachel through a fit of laughter. My stomach was starting to hurt; like 'I feel a six pack coming on' kind of hurt.

"Ahh fuck you guys!" Rachel huffed, stomping up the stairs. Our laughter died down after a while, and I tried to steal another piece of turkey, but Puck pulled my down on to his lap. I jumped off before he could start his tickle assault, and pulled up another chair close to his.

I leaned my head on his chest, enjoying the closeness only the best of family moments can afford you. I reached out every now and then for a piece of turkey, sometimes I'd get one, other times he slap at my hand. And I couldn't help but think, this is how it should be. For the first time in a long time things weren't all on us, and that was a really good feeling.

A few hours later, after Dan and Valarie had gone to bed, and Puck had gone to his room to do whatever it is Pucks' do, I laid awake on my bed. I could hear Rachel's soft, steady breathing across the room. It was relaxing. Just as I was dozing off, my phone started to buzz next to me on my pillow. I didn't really want to be bothered right now, so with a lazy hand, I slapped decline. And I didn't even bother to see who it was as I drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

**Hey guys. Sorry for being a douche and not updating sooner. I just had a few weeks that required studying for tests and shit. So, I'm back and I'll have quicker updates. Now that that's out of the way; review, follow, favorite, and PM the shit out of this story. See you guys in a few days. :)**


	8. Slushies and Government

Rachel's POV

"C'mon c'mon c'mon! Pick up!" An angry voice pulled me out of my very good, very blonde haired and hazel eyed dream. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and took in the sunlight that indicated early morning, and the vacant bed across the room.

"Santana?" I called out.

"What!?" She screamed; she was out on the balcony.

"Uh…" I trailed off, confused as to what I could have done. "What's up with you?" I finally settled on being blunt. It never does any good to beat around the bush anyway.

"It's my dad Rach!" She ran back into our room and I shot up in bed. Santana looked like shit. Her raven hair was messy, her eyes were blood shot and she looked strung out as hell.

"What about him?" I bailed out of bed and hurried over to her. She thrust her phone in my face.

"He called me and I didn't pick up! I fucking knew I should have! God dammit, I was just so tired last night and I blew it off… FUCK!" Santana hurled her phone at my pillows and started to pace. "And now he ain't pickin' up any of my calls! ¿Qué diablos voy a hacer?! Él va a perder su mierda! Estúpido, estúpido, estúpido Sant-"

"Santana!" I screamed, cutting her off, and grabbing her hands to stop the pacing. "You need to cut this shit out. You're acting like someone got killed and that ain't right! He's in the pen, sis. He's not gonna get your calls for a few days!" I force her to look in my eyes, but that doesn't do anything as she just pulls away and throws herself out onto the balcony again.

Silence enveloped us as she leaned against the rail and hung her head. I knew she didn't need me, but at the same time she did; so I just stood there. My thoughts were cut off when the back door to the neighbors place slammed open and then closed. My head shot up the same time Santana's did. Quinn and Brittany skipped out into their yard talking and laughing, but their smiles faded slightly when they looked up and saw our expressions.

"Hey guys… Good morning!" Quinn called out, giving us a halfhearted wave, and then cocked her head to the side curiously.

"So fucking nosy." Santana muttered under head breath, straightening up from the balcony and brushing past me inside.

I let Santana go, knowing she was probably going to tell Puck. I turned back to Quinn and Brittany to see them talking in hushed tones, and casting glances up at my balcony. Fucking great! Instead of answering Quinn I just forced a smile at her and headed back inside.

"Let's go!" Puck called from the bottom of the stairs. We were going to be late for school, and Santana was throwing her shit in her bag with a fury.

"He's gonna call back, now stop moping around or we're gonna be late and I don't feel like being chewed out by some dumbass teacher!" I yelled at the Latina, only getting a glare as she stormed past me.

"Whoa, slow down San." Puck called after her as she blew by him and out the door. Puck and I just looked at each other and sighed, I guess it's going to be one of those days.

"Hey San!" Brittany's voice rang out not even a second after we were out the door. "You guys want a ride today?" As if on cue a silver Lamborghini pulled out of the Pierce's garage, gliding to a stop in the middle of the driveway. Quinn sat in the driver's side, throwing a wink my way. My jaw hit the driveway. The thing was fucking gorgeous, and probably worth more than my whole life.

"Holy shit!" Puck found his voice first. "That's y'alls car?" Brittany just nodded shyly in response.

"That won't fit all of us kiddo, sorry to burst your bubble." Santana cut through the gawking in a tone that didn't sound very sorry at all. Brittany, unfortunately, didn't pick up on it.

"Oh that's ok, we can totally fit you guys in. This one time Quinn just opened the trunk and we cruised to school with a whole bunch of Cheerios, it was super fun!" Brittany bounced on the spot, and I kind of felt bad for her.

"Not a chance in hell goldie locks, it just ain't happening today okay? So get in your fancy ass car, and drive your fancy ass to school. We're fucking walking. C'mon guys!" Santana turned and started stalking off down the sidewalk before Brittany could respond.

"Don't mind her, she's a bitch today." Puck shrugged apologetically.

"She's a bitch every day," I pointed out. "She's just PMSing or something today." Brittany nodded, still kind of hurt from Santana's vicious words. "See y'all around." I said, nudging Puck's shoulder towards Santana.

"What the fuck was my combo again?!" Santana hissed angrily at me.

"Why in the hell would I know that?" I argued, "And you need to dial down the bullshit, you hurt B's feelings this morning."

"Do you really think I give a fuck about her _feelings_?" Santana's voice dripped with sarcasm that made me kind of angry.

"Actually yeah, I think you do. She's cool to us, and she's been really cool to you, so you need to drop the tough guy act just because you're pissed." I scolded. By now Santana should know this stuff, it's honestly tiring playing baby sitter all the time.

"I don't give a shit about what she's been to who hobbit, and don't fucking tell me what to do!" Santana turned a few clicks on her lock, snapping it open effectively.

"You know what, I don't wanna have this fight right now!" I said angrily, this kid really knew how to play with my last nerve. "Just try not to kill anybody, and we'll figure all your shit out after school." I spun around, taking a few steps towards my first period, only to be met with something I can only describe as being bitch slapped by an iceberg. Laughter roared around the hallway, something heavy shoved me back into the lockers. Whatever had been thrown on me was starting to leak into my eyes, and it burned like a mother fucker. The sound of Santana swearing violently behind me let me know that she'd been hit with whatever this was too.

"Welcome to McKinley fuck faces!" A deep, yet snobbish voice yelled, and laughter receded down the hall, there must be five of them. It sounded like they were all guys, but at this point the pain was starting to make it difficult to even remember my own name.

"San!" I called out blindly, stumbling back across the lockers, wincing as my ribs hit locks.

"Berry, where the hell are you? I think we just got fucking shot!" Santana was somewhere to my left, slapping at lockers. "Fuck, this shit BURNS! I'm gonna fucking kill that asshole! Who the fuck was that?!" Santana screamed, going off in a mix of English and Spanish curses.

The bell for first period rang, signaling that we were late. There was silence around us, letting me know that we were probably the only two people in the hallway.

"Oh my god!" Ok, obviously not the only two people. Light footsteps flew down the hallway towards us, I unconsciously reacted, slinging my binder out in front of me. The small yelp of pain let me know that I'd definitely hit something. "Fucking hell girl it's just me!" Now I recognized that voice.

"Mercedes?" Santana beat me to it.

"You know it."

"What the fuck just happened? You know that asshole? Who was that little twat?!" My eyes were on fire at this point, and my hair was starting to feel gross.

"Later, bathroom now, lots of water, this shit burns!" I groaned out.

"Yeah, that would be y'alls welcome from Jesse and his boys." Mercede's huffed, grabbing my right elbow and tugging. "It's called 'getting slushied' and it hurts like a bitch, I know. It's the corn syrup that stings so bad, and you know, the fact that it's cold as fuck." Santana snorted out some snarky comment from off to my left. I reached my hand up to try and wipe some out of my eyes.

"No!" Something slapped my hand away from my face.

"What the hell?"

"It hurts worse if you rub it, just wait till we get to the bathroom, y'all can wash up in the sink. Man, he douched you two." Mercedes let out an impressed whistle; bitch.

A door thumped open and I felt myself being guided through, over until my hands met what felt like a sink.

"Put your head down, and keep your eyes closed." Mercedes demanded, and I did as she said, assuming Santana was doing the same.

"Who the fuck is Jesse?" Santana griped, when it was her turn to get her eyes washed out.

"Jesse St. James. He's from South Lima. He runs this place, or at least the South Lima kids here. His gang is just as bad as the jocks. They fuck up the new kids, the nerds, the people they don't like; pretty much everybody that's not in uniform, and then the jocks come through and do it again." She explained, washing it out of Santana's hair.

"Sounds like somebody needs to teach him not to fuck with people." I quipped, wringing out my shirt that was now stained red.

"No!" Mercedes shouted, her voice ringing around the bathroom. I looked up at her, giving up hope on my shirt.

"What?"

"Y'all are from Southside right?" I nodded. "There were gangs there right?" I nodded again. "Well you don't fuck with a gang do you; especially if the price is a bullet in your back." Mercedes declared, shutting the sink off.

"No shit?" Santana looked from Mercedes to me, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. What the hell? This was Lima, Ohio; according to Brittany and Quinn it was practically Bumfuck, USA, yet here was this girl telling us it was shady central.

"You mean he's get a legit gang?" I asked to confirm, ducking my head under a hand drier. "Not some little group of wannabe thugs, but like a for real band of hoods?" Mercedes nodded, looking earnest.

"Yeah, they run South Lima. Sam's brother Nick got shot a few years ago. Nobody cares though; South Lima only has like one cop. We were basically two different towns until Jesse and his boys burnt down our school last year." Mercedes leaned up against the wall, waiting for the hand driers to finish their job.

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to kick the shit out of him. He wouldn't try anything in North Lima right? I mean, y'all would be on to him in a second." Santana reasoned, her rage dulled but still simmering.

"I wouldn't," Mercedes tisked. "But I guess you could. You'd be painting a big as target on your back though, nobody just 'gets away with it' when it comes to JJ."

"Yeah well he hasn't met Santana Lopez and Rachel Berry. That kid's gonna be in a world of hurt." Santana promised, swearing some more.

"Yeah, I think we'll make a point. Show him that it isn't okay to do something like that. Make that little fucker sorry." I agreed, Mercedes just shook her head at us and sighed.

"Well, it's y'alls funeral. C'mon, I think Marley has some spare t shirts in her locker, let's go check it out." Mercedes shuffled past us, holding open the door for us as we marched proudly out of the restroom.

"Thanks, you don't have too though." I declined the offer. I didn't take handouts.

"Yeah, well I'm going to, so hurry your skinny asses up before I change my mind." She spun on her heel and stalked down the empty hallway, and Santana and I just trailed after.

"So," Santana whispered to me quiet enough so Wheezy wouldn't hear her, "What are we gonna do about this Jesse St. Douchebag?"

"I'm thinking we call him out around lunch time. Embarrass him in a few hours. What'd you think?" I proposed.

"Sounds doable, we should get Puck." She mused.

"Why bring the baby into this?" I questioned.

"Because he's new too, they'll prob-

"Yo! This is Marley's locker." Mercedes called back to us, waiting until we came level with her again. Mercedes spun a few notches on the dial and it snapped open. "Here, these should fit y'alls skinny asses." She quipped, pulling out a purple shirt and then a black tank top. "Pick one." She instructed, holding out black in her left and purple in her right. Santana was already on fire so I decided to be mature and choose purple.

"Good choice hobs." She muttered, snatching the tank.

"The bell's gonna ring any minute, so I'll see you two at lunch m'kay?" Mercedes ordered rather than asked.

"Sure thing Cedes." Santana breathed out, and we just watched as she headed back down the hall.

"Hurry up and change before the bell rings." I grumped out, pulling my shirt off in the middle of the hallway. It's not like anybody was around.

"If I see that douche again I'm gonna throttle him." Santana vented, already pulling on the tank top. It said _The Wallflowers; _of course, she gets a mountain of gooey ice thrown in her grill and still ends up with a band tee. Mine wasn't that bad, just a plain purple v-neck, all I had to do was tuck the front and back in slightly because it was so damn long.

"I'll be right behind you. Promise." I agreed, grabbing both our ruined shirts and tossing them into the nearest trash can.

"What do you have next?" She asked, leaning up against the lockers.

"Government with Britt. You?"

"Bio with Queen Cheerio." She huffed, I gave her a shit eating grin.

"She does kind of run this place doesn't she?" I mused, getting a curious glance. "I mean, she was probably over at the jock table at lunch yesterday, she said she was cheer captain, so she's like royalty here."

"I guess, so I wonder which dipshit she's dating then if that's the case." Santana nodded along, thinking out loud.

My head snapped up at that, and something in my stomach clenched and unclenched so suddenly I wasn't even sure it had happened. Quinn Fabray, with a boyfriend? Now that wasn't something I'd thought about. And the more I mulled it over, it wasn't something I wanted to think about. Quinn was a pretty cool girl, funny and sarcastic; most of the jocks around here were idiots.

"Yeah, you should ask her in bio. When is that, like five minutes?" I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket, checking the time. I was right, as usual; we only had a handful of minutes until the nest class. Government was in the east wing and bio was in the west, so we punched shoulders goodbye with promises to meet up at lunch.

The bell rang just as I was coming up to the door. Students filed past me. A familiar face came up on the other side of the door as students were filing.

"Hey Rach!" Brittany chirped cheerily, but something in her eyes was saying she remembered Santana's frosty behavior from that morning.

"Hey Britt, have a good morning so far?" I asked, leading us into the classroom and straight to the back of the room.

"Uh yeah," She shrugged. "But Quinn said you and Santana weren't in first period." Brittany shifted as she sat down, obviously unsure if that was an okay question to ask.

"We got our first slushy apparently." I informed, noting the gasp of surprise from the blonde. "No worries though, that fuckball and his friends'll get what's coming to them."

"What? Rachel, no." Brittany said shaking her head furiously. "If it was one of the jocks just tell me what he looked like, Quinn and I will take care of it. I promise!" Brittany swore, locking her blue eyes with mine.

"Well-

"Hey Berry!" I was cut off and the chairs to the table across from Brittany and I were pulled out. I recognized the people from yesterday at lunch. Blaine and Artie plopped down.

"Hi Rachel!" Blaine greeted politely. Brittany shifted noticeable into herself.

"Ah don't worry kid, we don't bite." Blaine assured her with a charming smile.

"Speak for yourself." Artie quipped, but shot Brittany a good-natured wink anyway.

"What's up chumps?" I greeted.

"Just figured with sit with you and North Side today if that's cool. And if it's not, it's too bad I'm already comfortable." Artie pulled out his binder and a pen.

I grinned inwardly. These guys were cool. Definitely more chill than Quinn and Brittany when we started talking hood or something.

"Yeah, sure thing. You and sparkle snatcher can chill, if it's okay with B." I glanced over at Brittany who was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, and had her eyebrows scrunched slightly in confusion.

"Uh, yeah." She nodded her head, giving a small smile. "I'm Brittany." She added kind of lamely.

"Everyone knows who you are Pierce. Don't matter though. I'm Artie, this is my boy Blaine, and he's gayer than a two dollar bill." Artie smirked as Blaine just shrugged with a shit eating grin.

"For such a small town there's a shit load of gay people here." I remarked, suddenly adding us all up.

"What do you mean?" Brittany asked quickly. Well, that's weird.

"San is. Astro Boy over here, that Kurt kid you said you're friends with, and me. And you said you're bi." I explained.

"Santana's gay?" Brittany's voice was a little higher than usual.

"Santana is the capital of gay. You should've seen all the girl we got back home." I bragged, remembering the good times.

"HOT!" Artie praised from the other side of the table and Blaine just rubbed his neck, uncomfortable with this particular kind of girl talk.

"Who would have thought…" Brittany mused.

I didn't have time to ask what she was talking about though seeing as the last few students were rushing in, and the teacher had started up with roll call.

A few minutes into class after the drab teacher had passed out the drab assignments, Blaine decided it would be a good idea to break the ice again.

"So, anymore thoughts about glee club?" He asked excitedly, bright red bowtie standing proudly as he sat up perfectly straight.

"Uh yeah, we're definitely gonna join. It sounds cool. That's after school today right?" I wanted to clarify.

"Damn straight." Artie threw his hand up in a praise motion, getting a small giggle out of the oddly quiet Brittany.

"I didn't know you guys were in glee club?" Brittany questioned, mostly to Blaine who seemed like the friendlier of him and Artie.

Artie answered anyway. "You wouldn't, would you? You're too busy being a Cheerio and throwing slushies on people." He scoffed when Brittany's face turned indignant.

"Speaking of which I heard Jesse slushied you this morning." Blaine piped up before Brittany could defend herself.

"You heard right. San and I are probably gonna have words with him at lunch." I shrugged, but everyone's heads shot up.

"You can't do that!"

"Not a chance Rachel!"

"Bitch, you got a death wish?"

All three of them shouted at the same time. Everyone turned to look at our table.

"Nothin to see here you nosy fu-

"THANK you Mr. Abrams!" The teacher, Mr. Bins, shouted from his desk. "Back to work guys."

I turned back to the occupants of the table.

"What the hell is the deal with this Jesse kid? Mercedes was sayin something about how we can't mess with him either." I was getting pissed. This guy throws a liquefied iceberg at us, and when we decided to do something about it, we _can't_.

"He's Jesse St. James. You don't touch Jesse St. James." Artie whispered. Before he'd been pretty boisterous, like he didn't give a shit who heard what. Apparently this Jesse guy was taboo.

"And I'm Rachel Berry. Where I'm from that's a pretty big deal, and I'm from a town a lot bigger than this playground." I argued nonchalantly.

"Yeah, well this _playground _belongs to Jesse." Blaine piped up.

"And nobody ever thought about standing up to this guy?" I quirked a brow.

"Yeah actually, a few people." Blaine answered haughtily.

"And one night they were all killed in a car accident," Artie threw in. "Sounds like a big ass coincidence to me." He lifted his eyes from his paper, and met mine challengingly. "If you're a street smart as you say you are, you'll leave it alone."

"For arguments sake we'll say I'm not smar-

"Then you're dead." Artie stated bluntly. "If you ain't smart, you ain't breathin'." The bell signaling the end of class rang before I could even get angry. Artie's words were still processing, and for the most part Brittany had been in her own little world since we'd brought up the topic of how many of us were on the Kinsey scale.

Not that it matters what these chumps think. I'll talk it over with Puck and Santana later, but one way or another, that asshole was going to pay for it. It would probably be a good idea to see what he looked like at least.

"I'll see you at lunch Rachel!" Blaine called as he and Artie filed out of the room.

"Yeah, I'll see you later Rachel." Brittany said in an unusually small voice, before picking up her things and following the other kids out the door.

I guess I had more to talk to Santana about than I thought.

** Sorry about this chapter taking so damn long only to be so short. I had tests and then I was sick and then other life things got in the way, and then on top of all that I'm a born and bred procrastinator. Anyway, this chapter is kind of pointless, but don't you crazy kids worry, we'll get to the good part soon enough. Anywhoo… PM, follow, favorite, keep in mind that the review box is just below, and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Back in a few. :)**


	9. Of Lady Lovers and Hierarchy

Santana's POV

I slammed my way past kids, storming into biology. When I slumped angrily down on my lab stool I was met with the unimpressed gaze of one Quinn Fabray. Fucking dandy. What a great morning so far.

"What crawled up your ass?" She decided on asking after a few seconds.

"Fuck off." I replied without even thinking about it. My head wasn't really in it. Jesse St. James had painted a large Santana Lopez target on his back, and he was definitely on my list.

"Bad day already huh?" Quinn pressed on anyway. "You looked mad before school even started." She held her he up with one hand under her chin, and tapped the nails of her other hand against the table. "Want to talk about it?"

"Please,"I scoffed. "You don't know jack shit about my problems." I could've laughed in her face. What did she know about my dad, about being slushied. According to Mercedes this girl was HBIC. Little Ms. Perfect. All the guys wanted her, and all the girls wanted to be her.

"Well maybe I coul-

She was cut off when a giant plopped down next to her. One second that lab stool hadn't been occupied, and then not a second later an oaf was sitting there.

"Hey babe," The brute grinned what here probably thought was a charming grin at Quinn. "I missed you this summer."

"That's because we broke up at the end of last year David, or can your brain not remember that far back?" Quinn swung her gaze back to me politely, probably intending to blow this jock strap off.

"You were serious about that?" Dipshit dropped his jaw, like it hadn't even occurred to him before.

"Yes David, of course I was. You're an idiot, and I don't want to be seen with an idiot."

"Yeah, but I'm on the football team, I'm captain of the football team." He stated dumbly, like that should have any relevance in a relationship.

"And you let our team lose over half the games last season, a girl has a reputation to keep up." Now it was my turn to drop _my _jaw. Seriously? I couldn't believe for starters that she would ever date some guy like this. Second, she would dump somebody because they lost a game? I'm certainly not in Kansas anymore.

"Get out of here Karofsky, you heard her, you're done." A voice cut over us, just as David was about to open his mouth again.

I looked up and met green eyes. Standing a few feet away from our table was a tall blonde in a Cheerios uniform. I recognized her as the girl from this summer. Ariel something.

"Fuck off Ariel." Karofsky breathed out, picking up his books and moving to the other side of the classroom. The Cheerio, Ariel, smirked at him as he passed and then sat down in the spot he'd been at.

"Good Morning Quinn." Ariel said politely, like she could really give a shit less, but it had to be said.

"Good morning Ariel." Quinn said, in the exact same tone. "This is Santana, but you've already met." Quinn said, gesturing to me.

Green eyes cut over me, and a small smirk appeared on thin pink lips.

"From Breadstix, yeah. It's nice to see you again." She reached out a hand and laid it on my arm, trying to make the sentiment feel heartfelt.

"Sure." Was all I replied with, pulling my arm back. This girl had looked like she was full of shit from the minute she sat down.

"Anyway," Quinn segued. "Ariel has bio and math with the seniors because she has brains and shit."

"Eloquent." I quipped sarcastically, getting an irritating giggle from the Ariel and an eye roll from Quinn.

"Mind if I sit here?" Ariel asked, laying a hand on the table top next to me.

"I do actually," I said, not really giving two fucks about her _feelings_. "There's some open seats over there." I nodded my head to the other side of the room, as far from Quinn and I as possible.

"Great!" she chirped, ignoring my words completely and sitting down. Quinn snorted and choked down her laughter at my look of outrage.

Biology passed relatively quickly seeing as I tuned out the barbies next to me, and the teacher at the front of the room. My thoughts ranged from the missed call from my dad, the slushy stains on my psyche, and all the way around to my blonde neighbor. For whatever reason I haven't been able to get Brittany off my mind. It's not like she's all I think about, far from it, but she's still there. The park this summer, my birthday, study hall, it was just so easy to talk to her, and that was kind of strange.

It's not like I'd ever tried to sit down and talk to her, because I just don't do shit like that, but when we are together, words just spill out of me, like a gas leak of honesty. It doesn't matter what I do or say all the time either. I can be the meanest bitch in town, and she still bounces around like her cheerful self. I guess I'm just trying to figure her out.

Then I have to address personal feelings about it, which is on the very short list of things I suck at. There's something about Brittany Pierce that makes me want to know more. It makes me give a shit about what's being said if she's the one saying it. It makes me want to go to a certain place if she's going too, it's all just strange.

"SANTANA!" Quinn shouted, snapping me out of my own little world. "The bell rang like two minutes ago, c'mon." Quinn huffed out. Sure enough, everybody in the room was gone. I just rolled my eyes at her and stalked down the hall to third period.

"Sis, Snix." Puck greeted, striding up to our lockers at lunch. His eyes were darker than usual, and he looked pissed off. I guess St. James got him too. "Some fucker threw a slushy all over me this morning!" I guessed right.

"Yeah, we got the welcoming committee too bro, I'm thinking we should talk to this Jesse kid." Rachel said, closing her locker as the three of us headed to lunch.

"I would've cold cocked the fucker, but I couldn't see shit." Puck complained, rubbing her knuckles menacingly.

"Same here man," I agreed. "That shit burns. Mercedes did us a solid though, skipped out on first period to help us out."

"Cool chick." He nodded his head in approval.

"Right?" I said. I knew Aretha was one of the good ones.

"Guys," Rachel called, getting our attention. "Check it out." Rachel pointed down the hallway to the left, just in front of the cafeteria doors. A group of seven or eight guys were just hanging around, lazily making their way towards the doors which would lead to the football field.

They were laughing and swearing loudly, you could smell the weed on them from here. A guy in the middle of the group stood out though. He was about Puck's height, pretty lean build; his curly hair looked like pubes. Gross. You could tell he was King Dick out of the group, the other guys modeled after him. Well, pleasure to meet you Jesse St. James.

"Let's go." I stated bluntly, taking a few steps in his direction.

"Dude, no!" Puck grabbed my arm, spinning me around. I blinked at him in disbelief. Out of all of us I never expected him to pussy out of a fight.

"What the fuck?" I asked, yanking my arm back.

"Don't be an idiot San, there's eight of them. If we get jumped we're dead in two seconds." He pointed out. "There's no way they have all their classes together. Get him when it's a fair fight." Puck reasoned. Rachel, who hadn't said anything all this time, was looking in the entirely opposite direction. I leaned my head around slightly, trying to see what she was looking at.

Quinn and Brittany and their entire horde of Cheerios were headed this way. Quinn and Brittany were in the front, heads held high, hair perfectly pulled back and swinging, the picture of popularity. I thought they were just going to breeze past us, but once again I was wrong.

"Hi guys!" Brittany cheered, bouncing up close to us. Her perfume smelled amazing, like cotton candy.

"Hey," Quinn practically echoed, "Just wondering if you're going to be sitting with the SL kids today." I could hear the disapproval in her irritatingly superior voice, and I rolled my eyes on reflex.

"Yeah, probably." Rachel deadpanned, apparently she didn't care for Quinn's tone either.

"What's it to you?" Puck added on.

"We just wanted to say be careful." Brittany intervened. I was about to say something about what I thought of what she had to say, but calm blue eyes stopped me. Brittany had been looking right at me when she'd said that. My heart did some type of stutter, and it made me cough lightly for lack of breath.

"We can take care of ourselves, don't worry about it." Rachel said with finality in her tone. "We'll see y'all after school." Quinn just nodded and Brittany shook her head slightly at me, almost as if to say 'what am I going to do with you?' which I didn't really understand. I was nobody's problem but my own.

We passed by them without another word. Looks were cast our way from the Cheerio mob and they all broke out in loud whispers when my middle finger made an appearance in their direction.

"Yo! Girl it's about time your ass showed up!" Mercedes hollered as we sat down, Marley and some kid with dreads I hadn't seen yesterday making room. "I want y'all to meet my boy. This is Joe." She pointed to Dreads, and we just nodded in greeting.

"I was just telling everybody about how y'all got slushied this morning." She brought us up to speed, and the SL kids were soon to jump in.

"Yeah, we was like two feet away from Puck, Jesse got him good." Finn said, gesturing between him and Marley.

"Jesse's on a rampage man, it's the first day back and we're all seniors. Too bad his dump ass has to take this year over again." Artie sighed, tearing off pieces of crust from his PB&J and eating them.

"Wait, home boy is in his second year as a senior?" Puck chuckled, getting grins from the other kids.

"Yeah, it must be hard to be such a dipshit." Sam said, sarcasm evident.

"Oh you would know all about that wouldn't you?" Blaine quipped. Mercedes sent a tot flying his way, smacking him right in the forehead.

"You leave my man out of it." She teased.

A thought occurred to me as the conversation branched out to other topics. They ranged from homework that nobody was going to do, to jobs, to a little more Jesse bashing.

"Oh yeah, hey Marley." I called, looking past Rachel. She looked up from her conversation with Puck.

"What's up?" She asked, she looked happy that I'd actually addressed her instead of one of her older friends about something.

"Thanks for letting us borrow the threads; you're a life saver kid." I sent her a wink and she just shrugged like she was happy to help, even if it was without her permission. She should be jumping up and down right now actually; it's not often Santana Lopez shows she's grateful for something.

"I got PE, free period, and then Spanish!" I complained. The girls nodded in sympathy and the guys didn't get it.

"It's like 400 degrees out, and I have to run around with a bunch of sweaty fucking tools." I said, trying to drive the point in. Sam, Joe, Artie, Puck, and Finn still looked confused, Blaine however totally got me.

"I feel for you girl, I do." He said, doing a swerve. I think it was the first genuine laugh I'd had all day.

The bell rang, signaling that it was time for all of us to get out shit and tough out our next class. I hadn't had gym yesterday because apparently people don't do that on the first day here, so whatever. Fuck it, gym class, here comes Snix.

"Pick it up Wheezy, Mexico, Slick! My grandmother can run faster than that!" I heard through the megaphone. Mercedes, Blaine and I were literally at the back of the pack, the jocks having lapped us more than twice now. I could've probably beaten their asses any day, but Cedes and Blaine were the only ones I could spot so far that weren't dipshits.

"The fuck did she just call me?" I processed the fact that I wasn't wheezing like Mercedes and have never had as much product in my hair as Blaine at any point in my life.

"Don't sweat it." Mercedes wheezed out.

"Trust me I'm not." I muttered, too quiet for her and Blaine to hear as I effortlessly led them along.

"Sylvester's a bitch! Why anyone would want to be a Cheerio for that woman messes with my head." Blaine followed up, shaking his cemented hair to prove his point.

I was about to respond with something less than classy when a hand slapped my ass. See, there's a shit load of things I don't tolerate, being groped is pretty high up on that load.

"¿Qué carajo? ¿Quién diablos te crees que eres? Yo arranco esa maldita mano-

My Spanish rant was cut short when I actually saw the slapper. Brittany Pierce had started jogging away from me with wide eyes. Aw, shit.

"Sorry! Sorry Santana! I thought it would be funny! I didn't mean to-

"No, yeah, don't worry about it." I attempted to downplay it. Mercedes barked out a laugh through labored breathing. Fucker. I jogged over closer to a still wary Brittany.

"Are you sure, cause you sounded pretty pissed…" She trailed off. I looked around. Her pack of goons, or I'm assuming she'd been with them all period, were adjacent to us on the track. So I guess Brittany had sprinted ahead just to slap my ass. Is it weird that I feel honored? Probably, but fuck it.

"Just not having that good of a day? What's up with you though?" I said, getting the conversation away from me.

"Oh you know, just gym class," Brittany said awkwardly, looking around me and at Mercedes and Blaine. "I heard something really weird this morning from Rachel,"

"No surprise there." I scoffed.

"She told me you're gay." Brittany deadpanned. Well, shit. Watch her get all weird about me now, and probably never talk to me again. Yeah, just watch it happen.

"Did you believe her?" I asked, my jaw tightening and my pace speeding up slightly.

"Well," Brittany started, picking up her pace along with me. "Maybe. I mean, it's totally cool if you are because for a while I thought I was a total unicorn when I first saw Ariel, but then I thought maybe I was a bicorn because one time I accidently got all hot and bothered for Mike." Brittany's eyebrows came together in a frown, and I couldn't help but smirk, even though I had no idea what the hell she just said.

"I don't really know what the hell you just said," I deadpanned, "But I'm into girls yeah. Lady lover all the way." I shrugged, not really thinking it was that big of a deal, but keeping my emotions in check if it was.

Brittany's face did the exact opposite of what I thought it would. I thought she'd sneer or something like that, but no. Not a chance. Instead I look over and see a huge grin pretty much ripping her face in half, like seriously one of the biggest goddamn smiles I've ever seen. It was almost creepy, but in a weird way cute. Cute? Who the fuck am I?

"Well that's cool," Brittany squeaked out, trying to reign in her enthusiasm. "That's really cool."

"Yeah…" I trailed off, not really getting her excitement. "That all you wanted to talk about?"

"I-um- yeah I guess so." Brittany stuttered, the smile leaving her face. She almost looked downtrodden, like I'd kicked her puppy. Why the hell did I have to kick her puppy?

"Or, you know, we can keep jogging, just talk… and shit." I finished lamely, trying to salvage some of that smile I, for some reason, cared so much about.

"What about your friends, won't they get mad at you?" Brittany worried a pink lip between her teeth.

"They managed just fine before I got here." I shrugged, and Brittany seemed to like that explanation because a little smile reappeared.

"So," She started. "Do you like McKinley so far? I mean, besides your slushy…" She turned red, probably thinking I'd start scolding her ineptitude, but to me it didn't sound inept. She didn't sound inept.

"It's not great." I answered bluntly, "But it might have something cool about it, we'll have to wait and see."

Apparently this was interesting new to Brittany, who perked up in thought. And jesus Christ, what lap were we on, it seems like we've been running the entire period!

"You'll have to let me know when you find that something." Brittany blushed. Why was Brittany blushing?

"You can be the first." I vowed, blowing out air in frustration. Don't get me wrong, I love to run, but not in sweltering heat with a bunch of shit-for-brains jocks a few yards behind me.

"Any reason you looked so pissed this morning?" Brittany asked, before the silence could get awkward. "I mean, before the slushy?" She tagged on.

I side eyed her before answering, sweat was starting to form at her temple, but other than that, she looked like the picture of fitness in her black shorts and red PE shirt.

"I missed a call from somebody kind of important," I started, choosing my words carefully. I could feel her eyes on me, looking for pure truth. "I don't do that very often so it just feels weird I guess."

"Well just call them back or something." Brittany chirped brightly. I laughed darkly to myself. Yeah, because that was totally an option. My dad was in the slammer, he didn't exactly have a cell I could just call up whenever I needed a dose of daddy's voice.

"They're kind of hard to reach." I smirked.

"Oh," Brittany sighed, "Well that's a bummer."

I was about to reply with something that could be perceived as rude, but I was cut off with something I perceived as rude.

"Hurry up Brittany! Don't want to be seen hanging around with NL's charity case!" A group of jocks blew past us. I don't know who the voice belonged to, but it was definitely one of the guys.

Brittany's eyes went wide, and she looked from me to the group, but didn't say anything. I took the hint.

"Go on, you're pack is calling." I teased lightly. Brittany gave me an apologetic smile, and picked up her pace to catch up with the group, leaving me to fall back with Mercedes and Blaine.

"So," Mercedes said the second I fell back in line with them, "What'd the Princess have to say?"

I opened my mouth to tell her that it was none of her fucking business, I honestly did, but then the actual conversation came back to me. Brittany had wanted to know if I was gay, and she'd gotten excited about something I'd said. Oh dear god. Maybe I'd just unwittingly set an object in motion.

"And you know what they say about objects in motion…" I trailed off to myself, thinking out loud.

"What?" Blaine asked, cocking his head to look at me.

"Nothing man," I shook my head and straightened up for more jogging. "Probably nothing."

** Ok, so I know it's been a while since I updated and you can thank my shitty internet for that one. However, everything's up and running how it should be now, and I apologize for mistakes because I wrote this thing in four hours to make sure I could give y'all something. With that out of the way. Keep in mind the review box and follow button are right below, and reviews always mean longer and faster updates. See you real soon kids. **


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